True Parents and Our Responsibility

Sun Myung Moon
December 27, 1981
Belvedere
Translator -- Bo Hi Pak

Only those of us in the Unification Church use the terminology "True Parents." If we did not have this terminology, we would probably not experience so much persecution. Society rejects the unity you have with True Parents. Of course, if True Parents were not here, there would be no Unification Church and you would not be here either.

If the Unification Church originates with True Parents, where do the True Parents come from? Today we must clearly understand the origin of the term "True Parents." Who is Reverend Moon? An ordinary definition would be that Reverend Moon is simply a Korean leading a religious movement. Many Westerners reject the notion of a religious leader coming here from the Orient; they feel they don't need such a thing. This subconscious rejection is truly a problem.

The center of Western civilization is basically Judeo-Christian. Where did Christianity originate? It began with Jesus Christ, who came from the Middle East. Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire wanted nothing to do with Jesus Christ. He was described as an Asian and a Jew, and the Romans certainly didn't feel any need for such a religious leader. They could not understand that he was sent by God.

Looking back further, let us consider Moses, who began the Jewish religion. The Jewish faith originated in the Middle East. Jacob's descendants, the Israelites, were the race upon which the Jewish religion was founded. People seldom realize that God was the true origin of Judaism and Christianity. They usually look at the superficial aspects of religion, without investigating the core. When we compare Judaism, Christianity, and the Unification Church, we find many resemblances. In fact, those who look at them externally may wonder what the differences are.

People seldom realize that God's dispensation develops step by step. A religion begins on a small base and expands to the largest scale, the universal scale. The religion, which Jacob began, was comparable to a family-level religion. Moses founded a tribal religion. Jesus was the originator of a national-level religion. Now the Unification Church has come as a religion on the worldwide level. God has been building upon the same foundation, but always expanding His work through the birth of each of these religions. Sometimes people say we are boasting by calling the Unification Church the highest level religion. However, the truth is that no matter what we claim, unless God is actively participating in our religion, it will never succeed.

There are several levels of schooling in the American educational system: elementary, middle school, high school, and university. Some students might claim that their elementary school is the best in the country and later, when they go to middle or high school, also feel they are attending the best one. Such students, however, have no frame of reference beyond their own school; they are confined within it. Someone observing the overall scheme of education realizes that no level of schooling is complete in itself, but is merely one step in the process of education.

No one can say that the knowledge he gained in elementary school was unnecessary. Without the training you received there, you would never have learned the alphabet! No matter how far you go in the educational system, you rely upon the learning you gained from all previous levels of schooling. When people begin their education, they embark upon a long process, which for some will culminate in advanced degrees. By the same token, when God began His process of religion for mankind, His desire was to carry that process to the ultimate goal.

Some people might think they don't need the educational system. They want to enjoy "freedom" on all levels and still reach the university level someday, all on their own terms. But the only point at which a person can enjoy true freedom from the educational process is when he completes the highest level for his field and is ready to embark upon his career. He cannot indulge in random "freedom" in order to reach that highest level of learning; he must work at it.

The Use and Abuse of Freedom

What is freedom? The Western world today is intoxicated by the concept of freedom, but in reality, freedom is abused everywhere. People don't want to be bothered with the process of gaining true freedom; they want total freedom now. If a nation or society wishes to enjoy true freedom it must be guided by a certain order and rules. A student must obey the regulations of his school in order to enjoy freedom within that school. The freedom of a society must be sacred and it must be guarded by authority.

If a school principal wished to be exempt from all the rules and regulations of the school, he would not be a true representative of authority. If he were to go out and get drunk, forgetting his school responsibilities, the students and teachers under him would never respect him. When freedom is abused and misused, its dignity is lost and disaster is the inevitable result.

Since I am the leader of the Unification Church, can I follow my whims and do anything I wish? Not at all. I must be the first to observe the principles and laws of the Unification Church and God. Only based on such observance can I be a truly free person and maintain authority as a leader. God Himself is guided by the same principle; God created all the laws of the universe, so He must be the first to uphold them. Why do we have rules and laws within the Unification Church? It is because we need a foundation of law and principle in order to consummate freedom.

What figures in history truly fulfilled the meaning of freedom? Only those who lived up to every iota of the law and principle. By laying that kind of groundwork, they could experience true freedom. This applies to the past, present, and future. More than any other being God longs to experience total freedom. With such a desire, He would have to be the first one to observe the laws and principles which He created-in the past, present, and future.

You must be liberated from any conditions or hooks, which can restrict your freedom. Your life should be clear of any limitations upon your freedom, not only in the present but in the future as well if you are to be a truly free person.

After I have gone to the spirit world, many scholars and authorities will discuss the pros and cons of the philosophy I have taught. Such discussions, however, originate from the limited viewpoints of human beings. The important perspective is God's. As long as God guides me and sees that my actions conform to universal law, no one will ever be able to accuse or destroy anything I have done.

As one's level of understanding rises, the regulations, which guided him at an earlier stage, become less important. For example, in a university, the rules, which restrict elementary students, are sometimes disregarded or even totally reversed. As one step in the process is completed, focus shifts to the next one; each level is the foundation for the following one. A student who completes middle school does not return to kindergarten rules; he looks forward to the realm of high school and its rules.

The kindergarten student might protest the actions of a high school student, but that high school student has already fulfilled the requirements of the lower level and is now bound by a higher law. Once you have graduated from a lower level, you are no longer bound by its hooks. The person who has risen to the top has already fulfilled all the laws of the lower levels; he is on a higher plateau.

Smoking is forbidden in elementary school, for instance, but when a student goes to the university, there is no prohibition against smoking. Neither is he discouraged from dating; he is invited to proms, parties, and the like. At each level, the laws and regulations vary, and higher levels have the power to embrace lower ones. As you grow, you need each level of rules and regulations in turn, but once you have gone beyond a certain stage, living by the rules of an earlier stage would actually inhibit your growth. Every step along the way is important; you must observe every step.

You may sometimes think, "I want to have total freedom. In fact, I want Father and the Church to follow my desires and my way of life." Do you think your way is above the Church's way, or should you follow the Unification Church's ways and regulations? One of those regulations is to attend 6:00 a.m. Sunday service at Belvedere. You may wonder why we have such a peculiar law. Perhaps you wish we could be a little more "civilized." This is Christmas weekend; everybody else in the world is resting and enjoying themselves, so you probably want to do the same. We must understand clearly why we observe these rules and regulations.

Freedom, Order, and the Universe

Freedom prospers only upon the strict observance of certain laws. The purpose of freedom is not to destroy order. Young people in America today commonly feel that their parents are old fashioned. They talk a lot about the generation gap. They feel that their parents cannot understand them, so they just push them aside. They also tend to disregard the laws of society. "I am free," they say, "So I want to do whatever I feel like doing." However, these are words, which Satan whispers into their ears. Such an attitude is most destructive not only to society and the nation, but also to the person himself.

Some women teachers in the United States have actually been raped by their students. Is this freedom? All kinds of vandalism and destruction to school property have been done in the name of "freedom." This is most ridiculous and totally offensive to God's laws and human decency. No one in the Unification Church would ever live like that.

With such abuse of freedom by its citizens, no society or nation can long endure. That is not freedom at all. Anyone who claims such freedom is ignorant of the nature of eternity and the spirit world. The spirit world is a realm of order, discipline, and regulations. That world will reject such a person. Hell in the spirit world is the container for such abusers. There are spaces in hell reserved for those who indulge in such so-called freedom here on earth. This world has many more candidates for hell than for heaven. Is this just my opinion or do you think it is the truth?

The universe, which God created, is characterized by distinct law and order, both vertical and horizontal. There is always upper and lower, right and left, front and rear. If someone's position is to stand in the rear, he cannot simply say, "I don't like to stand back here; I want to stand in front." Somebody has to be in the front and somebody has to be in the rear. There is a certain prescribed order. If someone is designated to stand in front, it is because he has certain qualifications to be there. Likewise, the person in the rear was assigned there for a logical reason, not out of whim. Everybody must strive to gain the highest position possible within the law.

In an elementary school classroom, the shorter children are supposed to sit in front. What if one of the taller boys demanded a front seat, since he is "free"? The only way he could qualify to sit in front would be if he somehow made himself shorter. He must observe this law or regulation because it brings harmony to the whole group. If he sits up front, the smaller boys and girls won't be able to see the blackboard. Of course, this is simply common sense and most people would see the obvious reason for such a regulation.

Let's say a certain girl is totally free, running around and disturbing everybody else. She would have to be contained somehow in order to protect the welfare and peace of all the other people around her. If she were allowed to run wild she would destroy the peace of others. This is simple logic. Any society which accepts the abuse of freedom in its midst promotes disorder and will eventually decline. Do you want American society to fall into chaos? Certainly not. Then you must contain the destructive elements that are ruining the health of society. Young people who indulge themselves freely in wild activities are creating their own destiny in the cages of hell.

One day in Washington, D.C., I saw a girl walking around on the street wearing only the bottom of her bikini. She had nothing on top. I'm sure she was thinking, "I'm perfectly free; I'm at liberty to expose myself wherever I desire. So I will wear my topless bikini on the street in broad daylight." Nobody said anything to her; people were walking by her, trying not to stare. Amazingly, one Oriental man who happened to be Reverend Moon was so disgusted by this that I scolded her and made her feel ashamed. There are two ways to react to such an incident: one person would feel apathetic and say, "I don't care." The other person will feel deeply concerned and want to do something to stop it. Which kind of reaction is needed for a healthy society? Certainly the second one. I don't think that girl will go around in her topless bikini again.

I would like to see all Unification Church members reacting to their surroundings with a strong conscience not being apathetic at all. You must be people who care and who will work to build a healthy society. If a society continues to reject such efforts, it will eventually decline.

The Bible says, "Know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Knowledge and understanding surely result in true freedom. You become a new person when you understand the Principle. You must throw off your old shackles. To become a new person is the true meaning of resurrection. The men and women who observe the divine laws here on earth will enjoy eternal freedom in the spirit world. The person who has observed the law with only 80 percent seriousness will go to a spirit world that is only 80 percent Heaven; 60 percent seriousness will result in 60 percent Heaven. But the person who observes 100 percent of the law will enjoy 100 percent of Heaven's freedom.

Living the Principle here on earth is not easy, but the more a person strives to live by the Principle, the greater and more abundant the freedom he will enjoy in spirit world. The person, who leads an easy, lazy life here on earth will go to the lower realms in spirit world, or even down to hell. Hell is a necessity because there must be some receptacle for human trash. The law of cause and effect always operates. In the spirit world you reap the effect of whatever you have done here on earth. I would very much like to talk with you about the spirit world, but we are on a different subject today.

The Current State of the U.S.A.

Any group, organization, or society has its own laws or creeds. The person who is the most serious about observing those laws will always be elevated to the leadership of his group. However, the one who merely follows his whims and emotions will never be elevated or revered by any society. There are so many elements within American society that tempt and entice people to abuse their freedoms. Giving in to these temptations will ultimately send people to hell. It is heartbreaking to see an environment, which encourages people to go only to hell, not to Heaven. It is a society, which sells tickets to hell.

The United States can only decline if such abuse of freedom continues. The entire world will contribute to America's destruction. From the standpoint of God, this is a crisis situation. God's emergency measure was to send Reverend Moon to America to turn around its moral climate in the other direction. When I first came here ten years ago, I declared that the United States would decline if it continued the way it was going. Everybody here concluded that I was ignorant of America; they considered the United States a great place and thought it would never decline.

U.S.A. is a God-given name. It begins with U, meaning "you" first, instead of "me"; S sounds like "yes"; and A is the first letter of the alphabet. The American people are first-class citizens of the world; they are number-one people. This is not bad, but because they have twisted their position to believe that they can do whatever they feel like, the effect is bad. God wants the American people to be number one in terms of living up to His expectation, in terms of obeying the laws of the Bible and adhering to God's principles. This is the standard to be number one. If you can say yes to this way, that is great.

The laws of cause and effect states that you will harvest whatever you sow. If you read the speeches I gave ten years ago, you realize that my predictions were correct.

The members of the Unification Church have been commissioned to clean up this American society-using spiritual cleaning powder! When young people enter the Unification Church, they encounter a disciplined training program that allows them to turn their way of life around. Do you want to embrace this training and take on a tougher course than even the Japanese and Koreans-or do you want me to give you an easier way since this is the United States?

I have been criticized many times, even among our members, for doing things the "Korean way." I tell you, the Korean way is not the heavenly way; therefore, what I am teaching is not the Korean way. I am not even promoting the Oriental way. The heavenly way is much harder and far more difficult than any Korean or Oriental way. Because our way is more difficult, even Korean and Japanese members fall away from the path. Of course, the ratios vary somewhat in the different countries. More people have fallen away in the United States than in Japan, and even fewer have fallen away in Korea. However, the same principle applies. The Korean people have experienced a history of suffering, so they have a built-in enduring power. Thus they are better able to persevere in this course.

In the Last Days, the winners will be those who can persevere and endure. Certainly Korea's long history of suffering has enabled its people to endure this time better. My entire life has been one of persecution by societies and nations. There is one word that could be used to describe me: tough. Also, I have the power of endurance and perseverance. Even though I face a mountain of opposition day after day, I never dodge it; I always confront it head on. Right now we are facing a mountain of opposition from the U.S. government and from international communism. I will stand firm and fight until we make the breakthrough.

I am sure that whether they accept me or not, the world will eventually realize that Reverend Moon is a man who suffered for God and His cause. I will certainly be known as a man who was never timid about speaking out for God. Regardless of his race, every person will eventually recognize that I am extraordinary in that respect. My determination is to rise from hell into heaven. I may live and fight in hell throughout my entire life on this earth, but I will never give up. This is one reason why the Unification Church and Reverend Moon are controversial. I accept that.

I Did Not Come to Pat People on the Back

I came to stir up debate and ignite a fire. I certainly did not come to pat people on the back. I am a controversy in both worlds. Satan certainly is in an uproar because of me. Even God feels I am quite a controversy at times!

Why has God declared such an emergency? Because I have been fighting so hard and have stirred up Satan and his forces so much, God has to help me out! Do you think God knows me well? Does Satan know me well too? I am well known both in Heaven and hell!

Who is encouraging my actions? Certainly not Satan. God and heavenly people are inspiring me. I have been living in hell, but my supporters are God and heavenly people. When a society gives its greatest opposition to godly people is it closer to Heaven or to hell? By this criterion, American society is closer to a hellish standard.

It is only logical for us to resolve to turn American society around and save it. Do you agree with this? The United States has strongly opposed me, so what do you feel you should do in response? You know that you should turn this negativity into positivity. How many people are in this room today? You are a tiny number compared to the 240 million people in this country and the vast majority of them oppose the things we say and do. So is our course an easy one?

You are receiving training in your daily life to enable you to avoid danger. You women especially must be able to protect yourselves in case someone tries to attack you. You must be able to sense the atmosphere around you and judge when danger is near. Of course, you should not walk alone but have a partner. It would be good to learn karate, too.

This is the final Sunday of 1981. We should prepare to meet 1982.

As a result of God sending the True Parents, you are members of the Unification Church. How do you know that True Parents did not come from Satan? In the Principle you have a dependable yardstick to measure good and evil; understanding it thoroughly will enable you to distinguish clearly whether a person is good or evil.

I have certainly given you many hardships to endure. My only intention in doing so, however, was to enable you to go anywhere and not only survive but be victorious. I want to make each of you part of God's elite corps of champions, the top one percent. Would you be satisfied somewhere at the bottom of the list?

God's Champions

There are two different attitudes towards life among the members of the Unification Church. Some say: "I want to excel in everything I do and apply my utmost effort to achieve the goal." But others say, "I'll do whatever I can, as long as it doesn't take too much effort." Which attitude is yours'? The leaders of the future will come from those who give their utmost effort and take the Church's burdens upon themselves.

Let me give you a simple example of the qualifications for leadership. Recently I invited many Church leaders to eat with me at a Chinese restaurant. Some of the groups were very greedy to start eating while others waited until everyone else had been served. Which do you think is more qualified to be a leader? Oriental custom provides built-in training in this area: young people are taught to wait until their elders are served. The Western way is the opposite: young people assert their right to eat first and are not taught much respect for their elders. From Heaven's standpoint, those who have learned the Oriental standard in such a situation are more qualified to be leaders.

You say that you want to become leaders in the Unification Church. Therefore you should be willing to receive discipline and training, particularly in learning to serve older people. You should be able to gain universal acceptance from people of all societies and races. Those who adopt the standards of Heaven will achieve such universal acceptance. White people must be able to win the acceptance of the black community; likewise, black people must be able to gain the acceptance of the white community. You must be able to live and work with people from different races without harboring any secret resentment in your heart.

It is very possible that when white people go to the spirit world and try to enter the door to Heaven, they will be met by a black security guard. Black people will have to be accepted by a white security guard. Under those circumstances, would anybody say, "I don't really need Heaven"? If you were criticized by the security guard for not loving his race, wouldn't you ask him for forgiveness so that you could enter? You would be willing to do anything in order to gain admittance into Heaven.

Suppose you found Satan standing by the door to Heaven, holding a sharp spear. If you were soft, he could pierce you and take you to hell, but if you were strong like a rock he could not touch you. The best way to gain entry into God's kingdom in Heaven is to obtain a certificate of recognition signed by Satan while you are still living on earth.

I have received many such certificates from Satan. One of the most dramatic was during the Blessing of the 36 couples. Incredible controversy erupted at that time; people were praying to God, "Please don't let Reverend Moon take my son away. Let him die tonight instead." Now many of those same people are completely transformed and have become dedicated members.

At the time of the 36 couple Blessing, the entire nation of Korea opposed me. I was a villain in the eyes of the country. However, the situation has greatly changed. Now many Koreans are saying that Reverend Moon's ideology offers the only hope for the future of Korea and the world.

Japan is another good example. Several years ago in Japan, I was commonly thought of as a terrible person, a supreme monster. However, the general opinion today is that Reverend Moon's teachings hold the only hope for stopping communism in Japan. Don't you think the United States will follow the same pattern?

Satan has written me off as a hopeless case. I have been enduring his attacks and persevering in spite of them for such a long time, he has signed my certificate with no reservations.

One the various categories of people is that of true men and women. Do you wish to become true men and women only within the society of the Unification Church, or on a universal scale? You aim to become true people on the universal scale not because you are Moonies but because you understand the truth and can appreciate the greatest value.

The Yardstick for True Men and Women

You can measure me by the yardstick of the Principle and tell if I am a true man or not. As a religious leader, I have done many unique things. No other religious leader of the past or present has been interested in assembling intellectuals of various faiths in order to help them direct their energies toward a more harmonious, peaceful world. Right now a conference is taking place in Hawaii with the unique title, "God: The Contemporary Discussion." Top level theologians and thinkers are discussing various attitudes and beliefs about God. This is the first time such a conference has been organized and it was founded by Reverend Moon.

Christianity has been the source of the greatest opposition to me, but I have invested great amounts of energy and resources to help bring about a revival of Christianity. Jewish people as well have opposed me, but I teach that Judaism is the elder brother of the Unification Church. The Bible directs people to love those who persecute them. This has been my way of life.

What is the highest level to which someone could aspire: true man, true leader, true king, or true parent? Mankind is not hungry for a king or leader, but all people long for the love of a true parent. Don't you, too? What kind of a title did God want to give to me? Do you reply "True Parent" just because you are Moonies? God wants to give the title True Parent to the person who has brought the deepest understanding of the universe and the aching heart of God, to the one who has shed the most tears and sweat for His sake.

During Jesus' ministry there was no time when Judaism was truly close to embracing his teachings. However, at this time much dialogue has been occurring between representatives of Judaism, Christianity and the Unification Church. Two thousand years ago, Israel was a tiny country under the rule of the mighty Roman Empire. Similarly, the United States today is the Rome of the 20th century and Korea is under its dominion in almost every respect.

I have come to the mighty Rome of this era and have waged a war, in a way, against the social conditions here. Who do you think will surrender in defeat? Even though the government of the United States is bringing me into the courtroom, I will not be defeated. Instead, I shall declare a victory in that very place. Once that victory is proclaimed, it will prevent all possibility of our members ever having to shed their blood or die for the sake of God.

Suppose Jesus had been able to travel to Rome and wage a moral and spiritual crusade against that nation's evils. Certainly the Roman authorities would have opposed him, but if he had been victorious over them, there would have been no need for the 400 years of terrible bloodshed and martyrdom which gave birth and power to the Christian religion. This is exactly what I am trying to accomplish today.

Communism is God's worst enemy in His quest to build an ideal world. Who else but Reverend Moon is waging a worldwide battle against communism? Do you think God and His providence are headed in a direction opposite from me, or is God embracing me? The knowledge that God and history are embracing me gives me great confidence in our eventual victory. In the face of such support, no other power can defeat me. It doesn't even matter if I am put into prison. Once I am liberated, the entire world will enjoy the same kind of liberation.

I know you feel that following me is a very difficult task. Sometimes you consider abandoning it. But even if you gave up, God would never give up, history would never give up, and I would never give up. Therefore, who would be left alone? The one who pulls away from God's direction and guidance is actually withdrawing from the ultimate trend of history; he cuts himself off from the universe. Therefore, the consequences of joining this movement extend far beyond just the individual and his sphere. The individual who unites with God's dispensation is joining with all of history-past, present, and future.

True Parents' and Our Responsibility

Everyone will inevitably go to the spirit world. How terrible it would be if someone couldn't lift his face before God in the spirit world! Even in hell such a person would be an outcast. Those there would criticize him for being a real fool. "We came to hell out of ignorance of God and His principles," they would say, "but you knew the truth and threw it away." That would be the worst situation one could imagine. I would not want even one single person to find himself in such a horrible place in the spirit world.

My responsibility has been to pass on to you an understanding of truth. Once the student has learned from the teacher, the relationship between them is fulfilled and finished. Beyond the role of teacher, however, lies the role of true parent. A parent can never be finished with his children. God does not want the relationship between you and me to be just a student teacher relationship. God wants you to be able to stay with me forever. Therefore, God gave me the title of True Parent, and that position means we can never be separated. If I were no more than a judge or teacher, perhaps I could send you to hell. However, I cannot do it. As your parent, I would have to go down to hell with you and raise you out of it.

You must realize that God has been suffering throughout history to establish the title and position of True Parent on the earth. The True Parents are the expression of God's great love for mankind. God's intention is to save all people, including those who are now in hell. The words "True Parents" are precious, and the bond between mankind and True Parents is one of love. Brother, sister, president-no other title is greater, no other relationship more intimate. Only True Parents can bring the true relationship of love to mankind. Love and forgiveness are God's way.

Someone sentenced to prison would want above everything else to be comforted and given hope for the future. He would welcome the love of an ordinary, secular person, but think how much more precious and comforting the presence of True Parents would be. They would bring with them the love of God and all the strength of history. You must realize the true meaning and origin of the title True Parents. I never invented this title; I never even sought to gain such a title. No one else has ever been capable of fulfilling this role or even willing to try. But because it was God's wish, it was also my wish.

Our topic today is "The True Parents and Our Responsibility." We have discussed the True Parents, so now we must understand our responsibility.

The True Parents' task of finding and restoring true children is not easy. As each of you begins to follow the True Parents, you are opposed by the entire world-your family, your society, the news media. Yet even under such adverse circumstances, the True Parents must keep calling and trying to restore true children, one by one. Do I gain commercial benefit by doing this? Why do I do it? I must fulfill my role of True Parent. Behind those words lies the real significance of my life. At the core of those words is true love.

No person of sinful lineage is truly worthy of being called a true child of God; even if he came knocking on the door of Heaven hundreds of times, he could not be considered worthy of entering. But in reality, I am coming and knocking on the door of each one of you and reaching out to you. How can I bring you back into your proper position as true children of God? Only by taking on your burdens of sin myself, by claiming your sins as mine before God. Whatever mistakes you make within the Unification Church ultimately come upon my shoulders.

I came to the United States 10 years ago, and I have done nothing bad or wrong here. However, because my followers have made so many mistakes, the blame comes straight to me. The typical worldly standard would be to dismiss people who bring one suffering. However, the True Parent cannot do such a thing. Right now, the U.S. government is pressing a case against me in court. Legally speaking, I did not have to return to the United States and face this trial; it was only for the sake of you American members and your posterity that I am facing this. If I had tried to protect myself, then you would be open to attack. I could not let that happen. I will be your shield. I would rather be torn apart myself than for that to happen to you. I want you to understand that.

The Past and the Present

We cannot abandon the great accomplishments and foundation we have laid. We must build on these victories. Think about human history. This is the first time the term True Parents has ever existed. In order to achieve the level of true parent, how many other levels have to be achieved'? You must begin with the level of true servant of servants and true beggar-even true martyr. No one can leap into the position of true parent if he does not go through all the levels beneath.

To get to the top of a staircase you must climb step by step from the lowest level. From the worst, most miserable position of human society, a person must climb up to the level of true parent. The power to climb all the way up is that of sacrificial love; it is the road of the cross. One must overcome such suffering in order to achieve the title of true parent. Each step must be mastered as you move up the path.

When you were introduced to the Principle, you also encountered various new terms: servant of servant, adopted son, and so forth. These words are more than just intellectual concepts. They represent the actual life I have lived and the actual steps I have climbed. Whenever you observe people in miserable situations in life, such as beggars and hungry people, think of the times when I was in their position. I was once a laborer, a dock worker, and a beggar.

When I was persecuted by the communist regime in North Korea, the police arrested me and tortured me until they thought I was dead. Don't you realize that I could have felt resentment toward my situation at such times? I could have demanded of God, "Why are You allowing me to suffer like this? Why can't You do something to protect me, since You are so great and powerful?" This would have been the common reaction. But even though my hands were bruised and bleeding, I clasped them in prayer for those who tortured me. I know that those who beat me were only acting on orders; they could not reject me completely. I longed to embrace them and forgive them. I refused to write them off. You also should not give up when you encounter opposition or difficulties.

When God looks at mankind, whom can He trust? To whom do the saints in the spirit world look for inspiration? Because God gave me the title of True Parent, I must fulfill my responsibility. With a parental heart, I look at each of you, at America, and at the world. The true parental heart is to love and forgive the child. Even if the child is being led to his execution for crimes he committed, the parent will keep trying until the very last minute to get his child's sentence commuted. This has been my heart ever since coming to the United States. Without such a heart I could not have persevered here; I would have left long ago.

What is the true relationship between you and the True Parents? Is it a real, honest-to-goodness relationship or is it merely on the level of intellect? The concept of True Parents is logical, so perhaps you relate to us only as a concept. But what about your emotions, your heart in your day-to-day life? Do you feel the reality of the True Parents in your daily life?

When I look at you, I know that you are real children of God. As soon as you joined the Unification Church, you walked into eternity. I consider you eternal beings, and I care about your eternal life, not just this moment or next month or next year.

At the least, Unification Church members should feel some closeness and intimacy with the True Parents. Many people cannot have a real feeling about God since He is invisible; but the True Parents are right here, visible and tangible. You can talk with us, weep with us, and work with us. You should feel a heart- to-heart closeness with us.

Most of you had to give up your old lifestyles and former friends; you have even sacrificed your time with your families and relatives. To side with me, you have even had to disregard your nation, since public opinion has been against me. Why have you done all this? Because you know that ultimately you will be able to return to the mainstream of your nation, your society, and your family and restore them to God's side. Since you understand this, you have determined to disregard such things temporarily. Even though you have had to sacrifice so much, you still love me. You made up your mind that the relationship you most need right now is the one with the True Parents. You have sacrificed the temporal things for the eternal things; once you gain eternal values you can easily claim temporal things.

Up to the present, spirit world has not been organized by families, societies, or nations but from now on, these shall be formed in the spirit world. Who will be the pioneers of the heavenly nation in the spirit world'? You and the True Parents. You may think you have lost everything in this world, but you are actually pioneering your greatest inheritance. You have gained eternal relationships based upon the condition of temporarily disregarding your physical and temporal relations.

The Servant of Servants Course

The Washington Monument Rally was the culminating point of all your sacrifices, from the individual, to the family, society, national, and worldwide levels. What was the significance of that rally? Until then there was no heavenly world physically represented on the earth-only the realm of Satan. But at that point, the Unification movement achieved a worldwide level and formed a unity between the physical and spiritual worlds.

The beginning of the new age was declared on February 23, 1978 Year One of the Heavenly Kingdom. A new world and a new nation on Heaven's side were formed. From then on we could truly wage a substantial battle against Satan's realm. From that point forward you have been granted the position of judges and lawyers of the Heavenly Kingdom. Each one of you will have a certain position on the heavenly side.

In order to carry out that responsibility, however, you have to know the law. Therefore, you Unification Church members need to receive more heavenly reeducation so you can be truly good judges. You have to be able to receive an order from the True Parents, obey it and put it into practice. That is how you will be qualified to guide the world. There will be no true freedom until you fulfill yourselves by following the laws of Heaven.

I could proclaim my freedom and right to enjoy myself since I have consummated my responsibilities regarding the laws of Heaven, but I did not want to take that route. Even now I am living as a servant, because I desire only the ultimate heavenly freedom. Such a freedom can extend all the way into hell and not be diminished; hell itself can be transformed into Heaven.

I have been talking about myself today. Externally, I have lived as a servant of servants, but my heart has been that of a parent. This is how God has acted throughout history. He has gone forth in the shoes of a servant, but with the heart of a Father. You have True Parents in this physical world, but God Himself is the internal True Parents. Since God has taken the suffering course of the loving parent, the True Parents had to walk the same path. For whom did they do it'? Not for themselves, but for the children.

When you grasp the spirit and ideology of the True Parents, you will be truly able to understand and accept them. These are things you should actually feel and experience.

It is pleasant to rise higher and higher in this world and gain greater and greater position, but to climb down is very painful. Nobody wants to do it; virtually nobody does it without complaining. It is only with a parental heart that one can become humble and willingly accept the lowly tasks of a servant.

It is amazing that God, who is the highest being, has come down to the lowest realms of humanity in order to save His children. God doesn't care about how weak or pale He may appear; He has forgotten all personal matters. For a prominent white leader of society to go into the home of a poor black slum- dweller and clean his kitchen is still nothing compared with the way God has been humbling Himself and serving mankind throughout history.

Grafting Onto the True Parents

When you think about it, every person has committed crimes in the realm of the heart. Climbing up to God could take hundreds, even thousands, of years. No one could live long enough to do it. Someone had to come to build the bridge and set the condition so that mankind could leap forward and achieve salvation. My work, especially during the past 20 years, has been to lay that bridge. The parents walked the course of restoration, so when their children follow them, Satan cannot invade. The family bonds between us give you a free pass and guarantee protection against Satan. The worst, most odious words for Satan are True Parents and true children, because this is precisely what renders Satan powerless. The universe has to turn over everything to the True Parents and the true children; even Satan is bound by that law.

God and history endorse the True Parents. I am trying to turn over this inheritance from God and history to you. How can you deserve such an extraordinary blessing? Only in the capacity of True Parents' children and in a relationship of love with them. There is no other way to qualify for the blessing of True Parents. When you declare yourselves to be the flesh and blood of the True Parents, you are qualified to receive their inheritance.

Only in a parent-child relationship can such an inheritance be passed on. If a teacher were to bequeath all his wealth to a student, the teacher's children could take it away. Only when an inheritance is passed on to you by your own parent can you be sure to keep it.

Why do you need the inheritance of the True Parents? You were born from the tree of sin; you are the fallen children of a sinful lineage. Therefore you have no way to enjoy the true freedom of sinlessness. No matter how large your family tree may be, it is still a tree of sin. You must cut yourself off from that tree and graft yourself onto the tree of sinlessness. The Bible speaks of the true olive tree onto which the wild olive branches must be grafted.

The process of grafting an entire nation, such as the United States, which is 200 years old, cannot occur overnight. Many Americans believe that their tradition is superior to others in the world. They do not want to be severed from their former ways in order to achieve something better.

You must become totally new: a new sprout on the true olive tree. Only then can you become a true olive tree. The good foundation of the United States can be valuable only when it is grafted onto the true olive tree. Only within the new tradition of heaven can the good foundation within America truly come alive. As an individual, each of you is like a tiny shoot, which has been grafted into the tree of the True Parents. Only within the relationship of parents and children can life be grafted.

Have you come to the realization that you need the True Parents? How much do you need them? Can you buy that relationship with all the money in the United States or all the wealth in the world? Even if you had a diamond the size of the planet earth, you could not exchange it for a relationship with the True Parents. Such a bond can never be purchased. Only because of the amazing grace of God have you been blessed with a relationship with the True Parents. This can be a source of joy for your entire life. Even if you had to remain celibate your entire life, you could be happy as long as you had that relationship with the True Parents.

After you are married, if your spouse became an obstacle to your faith to the point of pushing you away from the True Parents, you would have to choose which is more valuable-your relationship with your spouse or your relationship with the True Parents. Even at the sacrifice of your family life, you should be willing to follow the True Parents. It is a very precious thing to have a family and it is ordained as the purpose of your life, but if you had to sacrifice either the True Parents or your spouse, you should cling to the True Parents.

The truth is that once you have that relationship with the True Parents, you can build every other true relationship. You can gain your spouse and children. The entire world becomes your brothers and sisters. Ultimately, you can lose nothing by choosing the True Parents first and foremost.

This is a significant sermon since it is the last Sunday of 1981. I have been speaking about certain core truths of the Principle and the Unification Church. Which should be deeper and stronger: your love for your fiancé or your love for the True Parents? There have been virtuous husbands and wives who have given their life for the sake of their spouse or children. Even in the secular world there is a power that allows people to sacrifice themselves for their family. How much greater power must exist within the heavenly world!

When you can dedicate your life to advancing the cause of God and the True Parents, the joy you experience is greater than any other joy. Have you come to such a realization? Your standard must be to love God and your True Parents unto your life. You must not focus on the limits of family, race, culture, or nationality. Through the love of the True Parents you can transcend them all. In the eternal realm of God and the spirit world such boundaries simply do not exist. In the spirit world there is certainly no language barrier. The worst barrier is the one between you and the True Parents. If you do not overcome that barrier while you are on the earth, you will not be able to remove it in the spirit world.

Societal Relations

When I was a young man, my greatest friends were old people, grandparents. Now that I am getting old, young people are my best friends. I served old people by carrying them piggyback where they needed to go. I have also served middle-aged people and young people. Do you want to inherit only the blessings I have gained on earth, or do you want to inherit my tradition as well? Is this tradition too harsh for you?

One of the first places we must liberate here in the United States are those senior citizens' institutions. The elderly people in those homes represent all the ancestors of their lineage. By serving and taking care of the senior citizens on the earth, you can serve all their ancestors in the spirit world-all the way back to the beginning of history. Then everywhere you go, you will receive the greatest welcome.

Who is the eldest senior citizen in the universe? It is none other than Heavenly Father Himself. As you tend to the needs of old people, do it with the attitude of caring for the needs of God Himself. God's desire is for us to take care of all His children. You must understand this heart of God.

Each of you has become a new person after having met the Principle and Reverend Moon. What do you first-class citizens of the United States have in common with me? We are very different and we met as strangers. But with the shared understanding of the Principle of Restoration and the terminology of True Parents, we can become connected and overcome all distances. We become one family-parents and children.

What kind of children do parents desire? The ambition of all parents is for their children to achieve the greatest possible success in the world. By the same token, the true parent would not want to see his child go to spirit world and not be welcomed into the Heavenly Kingdom. He would want to see the entire spirit world embrace and welcome his sons and daughters.

Social and economic inequities have produced terrible conflicts throughout human history. Some people are rich and others are poor; some are successful and others are not. There has never been a true solution to this problem. Only as people learn to love others with the heart of a true parent can this fundamental problem be eliminated.

The principle of parent-child love can be applied to every relationship. Within a business, the employer must have the heart of a parent toward the employees, who are in the position of children. As long as the employer makes money for the benefit of the entire company, the employees do not mind it and they willingly contribute their efforts. Those employees will inherit all the wealth of their employer. This kind of philosophy can eliminate the resentments that have occurred between the rich and the poor.

When you receive the inheritance from True Parents, you will be elevated to the level of true parents yourselves. By starting out at the level of true child, you eventually become a true parent yourself. Is the relationship between yourself and the True Parents more clear now? This is very important for you to understand.

The Parent/Child Relationship

Between God and me, how many generations have there been? Therefore, the physical distance or vertical times span between God and me is quite great. Between you and me as well, there is a great horizontal distance: that of culture. Only the power of the parent-child relationship can close those great gaps.

Is it easier for me to call God Father or for you to call me Father? So many people have tried to call God Father, but because they could not fulfill the incredible conditions necessary to bridge the gap between them, they could not truly live up to their position as child of God. But it is easier for you, since all the preparations have been made. You can come to the Unification Church and digest the truth of the Principle; then you can easily call the True Parents your own parents.

Who has the greatest cause for rejoicing: me when I call God my Father or you when you can call us your True Parents on earth? I had to suffer so much in order to be accepted as God's true son, but you have been granted such an easy course. All you have to do is learn the Principle, change your attitudes, and come to a new realization of the existence of the True Parents. But since it was so easy for you, some of you cannot appreciate the value of knowing the True Parents. You should rejoice the most, since you paid the least price for the greatest blessing. You have obtained a priceless treasure for a tremendous bargain!

Maybe the price you paid to understand the message and the existence of True Parents was only a seven- day workshop. However, I had to pay with gallons of blood and sweat to give you that message. Everything you read in the Principle is the record of the struggles and pains I have endured.

You must realize the preciousness of the Principle. Now you can understand why the world is going the way it is and what God's dispensation is all about. You have been given more knowledge than any other people-more than any philosopher, past or present. You know more than any great scholar does because you understand all the secrets of history. You are not actually, qualified to receive such an understanding; so many people have dedicated their entire lives to pursuing the truth, but they died without ever knowing what you have been handed so freely.

You have been given this great understanding, so you are qualified to hold up your head without shame before the world. If I had been ashamed of what I am, God could not have been proud of me either. Jesus himself declared that his disciples should go out and bear witness to him. "So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven," Jesus said, "but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven."

The same is true with the Unification Church. Are you afraid and ashamed before the world to be a member of the Unification Church? The Principle represents the entire truth of the universe, including the highest realm of the spirit world, so whenever you deny your association or behave in a shameful way, you are denying your connection with all those realms.

I want you to understand clearly the meaning of the True Parents and their relationship with you. Are you indebted to the True Parents or not? To what extent? It is impossible to repay such a debt with material goods; only one small thing can repay it: your love. You have been given great love, and you can repay it only with your own love. In the past, you knew True Parents only abstractly. Now through this sermon, you can come to know us in reality. Certainly there is a difference between the abstract and the real. God desires real people; He needs to deal with the realities of life, not concepts or abstractions.

When you come to Belvedere and I do not give the sermon, you feel slightly unfulfilled, don't you? A man may return home after a long day's work and his children jump up to greet him, but if his wife is absent he feels that nobody is home. Likewise, no matter how many loved ones come to greet a woman, if her husband is not among them she feels unfulfilled. From the viewpoint of the language of love, if the central object and focus of your love is missing. It's as if no one was there. When I am not here, you Unification Church members feel as if no one is home, don't you?

In the whole universe, the most important word is parents." There have been many wonderful sons and daughters of great loyalty and devotion in secular society. For the sake of True Parents, shouldn't there be even greater sons and daughters of filial piety? The title "True Parents" means universal parents, parents whose concern is universal. Therefore, the sons and daughters of true filial piety must adopt the same concern. You must not be content to live just for yourself and your family if you are truly the sons and daughters of True Parents, whose concerns encompass the whole universe. The True Parents need sons and daughters who can put their love for the world and all mankind before personal needs. This is logical as well.

My Relationship with You

What is the attitude of the True Parents toward their sons and daughters? Do they want their children to love only them and not be concerned about the rest of the world'? No, even after the children have gone to the entire world and returned home, the parents will humbly ask, "If you have any energy remaining, can you please go out and give more for the sake of the world? That is our desire." The True Parents want the child to love others as much as he loves them; that is how the joy of the parents is increased. Unfortunately, the attitude of many parents is very selfish. They only want to receive their children's love and hope they will disregard the world.

You know that True Parents are always pushing you out to give more and work harder for the sake of the world. Do you like it'? I know that you would really prefer to enjoy a relationship with me rather than being sent out into the world. However, when you do those things, you are building the Kingdom of Heaven for your own children and all your future descendants. If I passed away, how would you behave? The only thing you will retain is the tradition, which you are learning now. That is the tradition of loving the people of the world as much as you love your own parents. Such a tradition of love will be the means of transforming this world of hell into Heaven. Even after I have passed away, such a tradition will live on.

The entire spirit world will be able to welcome you when you arrive there; people of all ages will greet you. By the same token, I want your own children to take pride in you because you belonged to the True Parents while they were on earth. In order to gain such a position before the world and your own children, you must practice today the teachings of the True Parents. By imitating our actions, you can incorporate our parental qualities in your life and then pass them on to your children. It may be very difficult for you to swallow so much difficulty, but doing so will give great benefit to your children, your nation, and the entire world. Now do you clearly understand these points?

Don't expect many words of praise from me. I seldom say you have done wonderful things. To hear me praise and honor your work while on earth is already to receive your reward. When you go before God, He will note that you were already rewarded. However, if you did not receive many prizes and honors on earth from the True Parents, Heavenly Father will want to give you eternal blessing in Heaven. So is my attitude loving or cruel'? Which kind of reward would you prefer: a temporal one on earth, or the eternal one in Heaven?

When top Unification Church leaders come to East Garden, I usually criticize them so much that some of them can't bear it. They should be grateful for such treatment, however. I feel that anyone who can endure my criticism and scolding and remain humble and obedient is really special. Certainly God too notices such a person. Once you understand this profound truth you can go beyond such trivial concerns as who got the best Christmas present from True Parents.

In the Unification Church we always dwell in two worlds -- this physical realm and the spirit world-and we have to deal with both. Therefore, we cannot just think about the requirements of the physical realm; in fact, we must learn to consider eternal spiritual values first. Sometimes the eternal values conflict with those of this physical world and we experience difficulties and persecution as a result. But because we understand that we are winning on the eternal level, we can rise above the problems presented by this physical world.

When I entered prison in North Korea, I arrived as a humble newcomer. I never demanded respect from the others as the founder of a world-level religion. Since the other prisoners present were my elders, I acted like a private in front of superior officers. After eating our evening meal, there was nothing to do except talk. Prisoners talked about their lives and their various experiences. Everybody wanted to talk about his mistakes or crimes and how he had been caught and imprisoned. They also wanted to discuss their families. But after a few months those topics ran out, so the others had nothing more to speak about.

I had been the only person who had not spoken very much, so everybody else was very curious to hear what I had to say about myself. "Shall I talk about anything I feel like?" I asked them. They all said yes, they were interested in whatever I had to say. So I started to tell them a story that was a fictionalized version of the Principle. Every day I explained to them various contents of Principle, but in the form of a long narrative tale. This continued for about a week. After seven days of sharing, I suddenly stopped and said, "Well, I am finished. I don't feel like saying any more." But the leader of the group demanded that I continue because everyone wanted to hear more.

When I entered prison, I looked for the worst position in the cell. There was one corner where the terrible toilet bucket was kept, and I chose that spot as my place. However, the head of the cell ultimately demanded that I take a better place, away from the toilet. Even though those men were criminals, they still possessed an original mind and were able to respond out of the goodness in their hearts.

Do you think that I am an extraordinary person? You say yes, but my way of relating with other people in society is very ordinary and down-to-earth. I can make friends with anyone; I can laugh and joke with anyone, anywhere. When people meet me they are attracted by this quality.

There were many young girls who wanted to be my girlfriend when I was young. I was never rude to them, but I always tried to educate them. One by one, they came to understand what I was saying. Many girls had a very strong purpose: to win my heart and marry me. Some of them did some very crazy things. Obviously, none of them succeeded. Even now, as old grandmothers, each of those girls can remember how I treated her. They all have good memories of me, even though they were frustrated in their original desires. If I had been born in the West, do you think the same thing would have happened here'? Probably so. God's heart and God's love are like true magnets, pulling all people toward the one who possesses them.

The Payment of Indemnity

As a rule, I never discuss my personal experiences. Each of you must attend the 2 1 -day and 40-day workshops to learn more details about my life. I don't want to talk about myself before you and reveal all the difficulties I suffered for your sake. Your elder brothers and sisters should educate you about your parents. They should teach the younger brothers and sisters about the parents' heart, and help them appreciate the hardships the parents endured. This is more valuable than hearing it from the parents themselves. In order to understand the heart of the Unification Church, you must attend these workshops. Most of you have already completed a seven-day workshop.

What kind of course are we treading in the Unification Church? Where are we now'? Our course is one of paying indemnity to accomplish restoration. Without the payment of indemnity, no restoration is possible. Unification Church members do not want to pay indemnity, but to dislike indemnity means to dislike restoration. Most of you are clever, however, and you realize that restoration is valuable. You don't want indemnity, but which comes first: restoration or indemnity? The answer is indemnity. Still you don't like it, do you'?

God has a certain point of view. Whose side are you standing on, God's or Satan's? You must be certain that you are standing on God's side. You know that you want to be restored and fulfilled under God's dominion, but from God's point of view, there is no way He can receive you and restore you unless you fulfill the necessary indemnity. Therefore, those who like restoration but don't appreciate indemnity are still standing on the side of Satan and not God. Which side appreciates indemnity? Only God's side.

Within the Unification Church itself there are two sides: God's and Satan's. Analyze yourself clearly and ask yourself which side you are on. After this sermon, you should realize that only by embracing and accepting the course of indemnity can you truly align yourself with God's side. According to God, the person who embraces the road of indemnity and fulfills the conditions, which come to him, will be the leader in the future.

Some of you might wonder why I don't speak more tactfully and behave more diplomatically to avoid causing so much controversy. The answer is that I need to go a difficult way if I am going to champion the cause of God and pay the most indemnity. I cannot pay indemnity by placating everyone. Instead, I have had to stir up the world. I even had to invite suffering in order to endure for God's sake. After all these years, however, the world is running out of ways to abuse me; my indemnity is running out. The world has nothing more to give me except recognition.

Once the world starts to welcome me, it will welcome each of you as well. What if there were no way for you to pay indemnity even though you still needed to do it? If no one in secular society persecutes you, I will persecute you in order to allow you to make the proper conditions of indemnity. Perhaps I will mobilize the leaders to help me in this task. I will send black leaders to give the white members a hard time. Maybe I will send you out to sea or down into the mines or I might even send you out on a boat when a typhoon is coming. In such ways you could get a good dose of indemnity!

Many of you wonder how many more Korean leaders you will have to receive! You think you cannot stand another short guy from Japan either! But you must welcome such people and the difficulties you encounter in your relationships with them. That is a way of paying indemnity.

When you come to a matching, many of you ask for an international marriage, a Japanese or Korean spouse, for instance. Some of you had to use interpreters to converse with your fiancé. What indemnity! A handsome man engaged to a small, potato-shaped Korean girl with a nose so flat he can't even see it might wonder what is happening to him! The answer is simple: indemnity.

I have continuous peace of mind, regardless of the fact that the U.S. government is trying to convict me of criminal charges and send me to jail. I accept it as just one more form of indemnity. Since I am still paying indemnity after all these years, how can you think you can avoid it? Are you going to ask for the good part of my inheritance without also expecting to receive the indemnity course I went through'? When you accept indemnity willingly and without complaint, your inheritance and blessing automatically become greater. This is logical.

However, many members have conditional faith. They praise all the good aspects of our faith: the Principle, the love of brothers and sisters, True Parents, unity, but they cannot accept such things as fundraising. Then what does that indicate about your attitude toward indemnity?

Welcoming Indemnity

Those of you, who welcome indemnity, show me your hands. Actually, I don't want it either! But I must welcome it because it is the only road we can follow to free ourselves from Satan's accusations. Because of where it takes us, we can welcome the road of indemnity.

Everyone wants to graduate from the course of indemnity. It is natural to want to graduate as quickly as possible, so that means you should seek out the toughest tasks. If you have a fine, outstanding fiancé, you should feel: "I don't deserve such a person. Somebody else must have paid the indemnity for me so I could receive him (or her). Thank you, Heavenly Father."

We have a unique, dramatic way of life. We have learned to overcome all fears. Even prison should not be feared. I know that I can transform the worst prison cell Into Heaven. With such confidence, nothing can really bother or disturb you.

This sermon is an example of what I have been talking about. A preacher will normally speak for only 40 minutes or so, but I have already been speaking four hours. Can you welcome this? Before you meet the New Year, I want you to be cleansed and prepared. You must reorganize yourself before the New Year.

From this time forward, will you willingly accept the course of indemnity? If your leader doesn't push you enough, you can go and pull him forward! The opposite attitude is to say, "My leader isn't really following the true course of indemnity Father talks about. If he doesn't do it, I won't either." Are you going to choose that route'? From this understanding, you can clearly judge the truth about your own situation.

Among 10 people, if nine rise at 8:00 a.m. and one at 7:50, who is the winner in the indemnity contest'? Why shouldn't lie get up at 6:50-or 1:50? Those who come to Belvedere first are paying the most indemnity in this situation.

Harlem is known as one of the most dangerous, rundown areas in New York City. The person who goes to work there for that reason understands the principle of indemnity. Hardly anyone wants to go to work in Africa because it is less developed, but the person who seeks out such work also understands indemnity.

All you Korean fiancées please raise your hand. I made up my mind to give you a special course of hardship as a group. All the Japanese fiancées of Americans are included in this category as well. You are going to be pushed into some special indemnity course. When the Pilgrim Fathers first came to this land, they endured terrible suffering in order to survive and establish this country. Therefore, those foreigners now coming to this nation as wives of American young men should endure even worse suffering. You are becoming the true ancestors of the ideal nation and world. You are the bridges being built between the East and West. You Koreans and Japanese should be exemplary in serving your parents-in-law. This will start a great movement in America-parents pushing their children to marry Orientals.

Initiating Indemnity

What about you American women? Will you be able to compete successfully with these hard-working Oriental sisters'? You will have to work even harder in order to win back the best American brothers who currently want Oriental fiancées. American women should pay indemnity to restore this country. Unless the women of the United States become a new breed, this country has no hope. Two thirds of the homes that break up do so because of the woman. Some women marry a man only in order to get his fortune; once they have been married for a while, they divorce so they can get half of the husband's wealth. This is the strategy of some women.

If the American men are wary of marrying an American woman, you should simply work hard, pay lots of indemnity, and I will bring many Oriental men over here as your husbands. By marrying an Oriental man, you bridge the gap between East and West. Like the Oriental women who came to America and worked hard and suffered to pioneer the heavenly tradition, perhaps you will go to the Orient and duplicate their work. Since you understand the necessity of the indemnity course, you cannot run away from it. Where could you go? The indemnity course is good and necessary.

At this very moment, someone somewhere is killing himself. The suicide rate has skyrocketed in recent years. Tens of thousands of people kill themselves each year in the United States. But if they understood the meaning of indemnity, they could never kill themselves. We can save all those lives by explaining the Principle and the reality of indemnity. Then they could have hope and new vision, knowing their lives could be invested for a great purpose.

When I selected the foreign missionaries, I sent an impossible combination to each country: one American, one German and one Japanese. My direction to them was to unite; that was their indemnity course. If they were able to unite in their mission, they were able to bring great accomplishments; but if they could not unite, nothing good could happen in their country.

It is ridiculous for someone who is walking the course of indemnity to state, "I have been in the Unification Church for a long time, so others should serve me." How can you say such a thing'? I am still walking the course of indemnity, and I have been in the Unification Church longer than anybody! Don't you think this church is a dramatic and exciting place? What makes it so? Actually, indemnity itself is what makes it dramatic.

Even though you say you agree with me, in your heart you don't want indemnity. But from now on, the most clever and bright people in the Unification Church will be the ones who seek out indemnity. Before now, the clever people have usually discovered ways to avoid indemnity, and only the not-so-clever ones willingly entered into indemnity. But from 1982 on, we must turn that around and see the opposite thing happen. The smartest and most capable members of the Unification Church must become the first to go the way of indemnity, on their own initiative.

Of all the different aspects of our movement -- the newspaper companies, the fishing businesses, etc. Which do you think will bring you the most indemnity? During the past five years, The News World has been persecuted and the people who worked there have suffered immensely.

Do you think those who travel the indemnity course should expect a nice, large monthly salary? If you really want to pay indemnity, you will turn your good salary over to some greater purpose. You must receive your salary from God. You can't take it from your mission work. Once God is able to receive the entire world as an offering to Him, each person in the world will be entitled to receive a salary from God.

The Use of Money

When you have restored a nation, transforming it into a God-centered country, that nation will reward you with a salary you can receive. However, whenever you receive a salary now, you should use only the bare minimum you need and give the rest for the purpose of world restoration. This is the will of God. Then God will want to give you a huge salary. Your attitude as children should be to say, "I will receive a salary only after the True Parents receive one." Do you think I receive a salary?

The most important, primary purpose of our life is to bring this world back to God's side. Even when you are married and have many children, if you are unable to dwell in a nation that is owned by God and under His domain, you are just like the Jewish community in the wilderness; you cannot truly settle down. In order to achieve our settlement, we must tighten our belts and overcome the obstacles.

Whenever the movement obtains some money, we invest it for the sake of world restoration, beginning with the restoration of the nation. Between the world and the family, which has the highest priority? Can we sacrifice the world for the sake of our family? Certainly the family must walk the indemnity course for the sake of the world. This is how I have lived my life. God Himself has lived this way. You must realize this truth.

You must take the initiative to be a positive element, which adds to the benefit of the Unification Church, and never become a burden to it. Without such determination, you cannot fulfill the course of indemnity. I feel responsible to educate each of you while you are still young about how to support yourselves and contribute to the Church. You experience terrible persecution from the outside world, but go ahead and take it; accept all the curses and abuses. These are the experiences that will make you strong for the future.

Some Korean women came here and started asking their hardworking American fiancés for financial help; they complained about their situations. This is totally against my desire. I wanted those Korean fiancées to come here and give comfort and encouragement to their future husbands who have been working so hard in their public missions. Instead, they became burdens to their husbands! This is terrible.

Some Korean girls have even been telling their fiancés that they are wasting their time in their public missions and that they should return to school and get a degree so they can support them in their marriage. There is absolutely no way I will accept this attitude. If you Korean women feel so strongly about your husband going to school, then you should go out and work to make enough money to send him to school once he has fulfilled his public mission. Do some of you Korean women now regret having chosen a Western husband? I would like to see you use whatever money you have been spending for makeup to buy things for your future in-laws. You should give, not expect to receive. The standard of the fallen world is for the new bride to receive all kinds of benefits from her in-laws and to spend all her money on herself. We should be just the opposite: spending our money on our in-laws and others. All of you, who aspire to be universal women, tell me: did you come to the United States in order to enjoy the good life'? In choosing Korean brides for Americans, my standard was to look for women who are healthy, both spiritually and physically. I want you to become exemplary.

You international couples are like test cases for the future; what you do will set the standard for the future. The most important task of these international marriages is to give birth to great sons and daughters. In order to do so, you must be spiritually pure. If you are corrupted, you can never have wonderful children. I would like you to become the true ancestors of the new America.

Those of you who worry about getting older and becoming incapable of having children, my advice to you is to go out, work harder and let God Himself hasten the day of your marriage. Your self-centered desire for a family will never shorten the wait. To reach the greatest level of accomplishment and pay the greatest amount of indemnity and have only one child is far better than having ten children but achieving only a mediocre standard.

God Himself is a God of indemnity. Whatever I have achieved today is the result of going the way of indemnity my entire life. My ears want to hear nice sounds; my mouth wants to taste good food; my eyes want to see beautiful things-the same as you. Why then do I constantly push myself and you into experiences contrary to the desires of our five senses? Because we must go that way in order to reach God.

The Spirit of Indemnity

There is no easy short cut to Heaven. Even if your hair falls out from working so hard and paying so much indemnity, your bald head will become your badge and your source of pride. If there were some other way to go, I would have already found it. If complaint were permissible, I would have more reason to protest than anyone. But complaint has no place in this life, so we must silently go this path. The meaning of the indemnity course is to take the road of pain voluntarily, willingly, and without complaint. The act of taking responsibility requires the absence of complaint.

I know that there is much complaint in the Unification Church. Yet the indemnity course has value only when it is taken willingly. You cannot be forced. As an example, suppose I had returned reluctantly to face this court trial, only at the urging of other people. Then I could never count it as a victory. In fact, everybody else tried to stop me from coming back but I determined to return without the slightest delay. This is the victory: willing, voluntary participation in the difficult course.

Lately I have had to stay at East Garden a lot. It has been quite tedious at times. I have been learning how to play Ping-Pong and pool. In order to test myself, I have been playing these games even though I continue to lose over and over. Many people believe I have a custom-made, ironclad body, but your body and mine have the same composition. The only way I have been able to achieve so much in overcoming my physical body is because I have the spirit of indemnity.

I am sure the people on the East Garden security staff are taking note of this explanation. They probably never understood why I spent so much time at the pool table. Now they know it was my way of paying indemnity. Whether I won or lost, I could savor the experience; by persevering through dozens of lost games, I could taste losing over and over!

Some of you have had a poor understanding of the word indemnity. Do you want an easy life or a life of indemnity'? By choosing the life of indemnity, you can gain the ultimate reward: achieving the level and standard of a true parent and a total relationship with God. Since indemnity is the only means of accomplishing that, indemnity is a blessing. If you spend 10 years fundraising on MFT, God Himself will bow down to you.

Take whatever may happen to you and give it meaning by accepting it as indemnity. Even common head cold or aching legs can have great significance. When you realize you are paying indemnity, you can sense a new burst of energy and determine to overcome all the obstacles such as colds, aches and pains.

If indemnity were a commodity to be sold on the market, how much would it cost? It is so precious it can never be sold; it is priceless. Now you can understand why you must willingly take on indemnity, why you cannot merely jump forward to your ideals. No matter what you are doing, apply the law of indemnity to it. Then whether you are studying, climbing mountains, or whatever, your life will be highly productive. Whatever you touch, you will be putting the law of indemnity into action. You must be successful in reaching up to God.

Recap of Today's Sermon

Let's recap today's sermon. First, I spoke about freedom and then about indemnity. One of the greatest problems in American life today is a misunderstanding of the meaning of freedom. Also, no one understands what parental love is supposed to be. The American standard is to take things as easy as possible; people seek ways to work less and enjoy life more. When you join the Unification Church, however, you learn a totally new concept: indemnity. The American way of life really hates such a concept. Do you think you need this Unification Church "medicine"? What about the future of the United States? All Americans need this same medicine.

Many people think their purpose is to live day by day in the pursuit of more and more fun; this is what freedom means to them. This has given rise to promiscuity, drug abuse, and all those evils. Now you should have the complete understanding that will enable you to help these people and lead them toward God.

Another prevalent attitude among Americans today is a lack of regard for the needs and feelings of their in-laws and even their parents. The younger generation considers all older people virtually worthless. That is why there are so many senior citizens' homes. After listening to this sermon, each of you should resolve never to send your parents away to an institution, but to welcome them into your own home and care for them. You must also be willing to sacrifice your own desires for the sake of your elderly parents when they need you. This is what true love means.

Parents may sometimes visit their child unannounced. This should be fine with the child. They should not have to make an appointment to visit their children. Younger people should consider older people closer to God. Each of you wants to create an ideal home and an ideal family. Certainly you don't want to continue the tradition of mistreating old people. Once you commit yourself to that standard of serving older people, you will find that those who opposed your membership in Reverend Moon's church will change their attitude.

Why do you think such a strong anti-American sentiment prevails in the world today? It is because the American people have sought to avoid anything related with the indemnity course. They have tried to avoid suffering themselves, caring nothing about the suffering of others. Even when the U.S. government sends money as foreign aid, many people cannot appreciate it because there is no heart in it, only selfishness. The salvation of America can only come from the course of indemnity and America must accept it.

This is why I have been training you young Americans and teaching you to be models of indemnity. While the current standard among young people is to touch and embrace in public, you Unification Church members do not even hold your fiancé's hand! Why? Only because of indemnity. We do not want mediocre indemnity; we must fulfill the greatest amount of indemnity.

I have instructed you not to call your fiancé very much, so perhaps you try to get around that by writing to each other every day. After you are married, suppose you could meet only once a year. Such a reunion could have more value than seeing each other every day if you had the right attitude. You could long for each other for a whole year, and then when you finally meet in intense, passionate love, you could produce a beautiful child. That would certainly be a great accomplishment.

Fight for Your Virtue and This Way of Life

When we live according to the indemnity way, we have already won the victory in life. Sometimes when outside men look at women in the Unification Church, they get ideas such as, "That girl is so cute and naive; I'm sure I could seduce her very easily." Such a man might think that with just a little conversation he could win her over. But even after five hours, he sees that she is unmoved! If he tried to talk with her for five days, or even five years, still she would never be seduced by his words. This is the quality of our women: they are tough.

Recently one Korean girl who is matched with a brother in Washington, D.C. gave a testimony of how she barely escaped being raped while fundraising. She had been constantly warned not to go out after 9:00 p.m. because the United States is much more dangerous than Korea. But she was so eager to get a better result that one night she went by herself to a certain area and was grabbed by three strong men who forced her into a car. They tried to rape her there, but she made a desperate effort to get free. She had no weapon at all, but she fought back fiercely and almost tore their faces off!

Those three men were overpowered and beaten off by that feeble-looking little Korean girl. They became so upset and angry that they almost tried to kill her. Still she never gave up; she kept fighting them. She managed to get out of the car and run away desperately. The men ran after her. She ran to the door of one home and they wouldn't even open it. She went to another door and then another. Still nobody would open their door to her, so she hid in some bushes. Although the people in the third home wouldn't open their door-this is the American mentality-at least they called the police. This was how she narrowly escaped.

When I heard her testimony, I felt very proud of this little Korean girl who fought so bravely. Would you American women fight like that? Perhaps you would give in, thinking, "Why should I endanger my life to fight off these men?" That would be a pragmatic approach, but it would not be the right one. You are different from all other American women.

People in the outside world have no understanding of the Unification Church way of life, particularly our method of being matched and married. You are engaged for three years and keep yourselves absolutely pure. Such things are impossible for the world to understand. They assume you must be brainwashed by Rev. Moon, otherwise why would you live such a way? But you know the value of purity and that Satan would make you his victim if you let him.

When you study the Principle, you learn about such terms as "foundation of faith..... foundation of substance," and "foundation to receive the Messiah." Advancing to these various levels can never be easy. Unless you completely understand what I have said today, you cannot attain those levels. You must understand the true meaning of freedom, why you need parents, and why you need indemnity.

What is the foundation of faith and why do we need it? We need to make some offering and condition on the material level. You are the central figure in that offering. The requirements are a material offering, a central figure in the role of Adam, and a conditional time period, which you must pass through. You may have learned the Principle, but you have not yet laid the foundation of faith. This, then, is your task.

When can you lay that foundation? By fundraising you can set the foundation of faith. Three and a half years is the time period and each of you, in the position of central figure, offers to God the material wealth of the world. As a consequence of the fall, the material things of creation were separated from God's dominion. We lay the foundation of faith in order to restore creation.

We are speaking here about the authentic way of life which Unification Church members walk. The number seven represents perfection. All numbers have a Principled meaning.

You are a historic individual. Your lineage goes all the way back to the beginning point of history. In order to restore the history of this sinful world, you must jump outside it, in a way, and go in a direction opposite from it-even if all the powers of Satan try to pull you back. It is inevitable that you will be persecuted. The fact that the Unification Church has received unprecedented rejection by the world is, in a way, proof of its truth and value. This is the first and last time that the entire world can oppose you for having rejected its ways.

Our Wilderness

When the entire world comes against a religion it becomes anointed as a world-level religion. Without receiving persecution by the world, a religion cannot elevate itself to a world-level. In my course, the original goal should have been reached in seven years, but it had to be extended to 21 years. When you become a member of the Unification Church, you leave the secular world and join an entirely new process: the march toward the establishment of a new world. Two thousand years ago, the Jewish people marched out of Egypt toward Canaan. Now we are marching into Canaan on the worldwide level.

The Israelites wandered through a literal wilderness and desert; today we must walk through a different kind of wilderness, a symbolic wilderness of the heart and mind. This is the world we are traveling through right now. Your families have criticized your way of life. This is similar to the Egyptians trying to hold back Moses and the Israelites, refusing to let them go.

Only those Jewish people who truly loved their traditions and society had the courage to follow such a difficult course. Likewise, we must go this way for the sake of the Heavenly Kingdom, the establishment of the sovereignty of God. We march with true patriotism toward the heavenly nation. A wilderness is a rugged place. I have been traveling through that wilderness for the past 21 years, pioneering a path. I can now lead you along the way and keep you from getting lost.

While Moses was on the top of Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God, he was gone from the community for 40 days and nights. During that time, the faith of the Israelites was shaken to such an extent that they created a golden calf to worship. The 40 years from 1945 to 1985 is the equivalent to the 40 days Moses spent on Mount Sinai, with the established Christian churches in the position of the chosen people. A similar confusion has seized worldwide Christianity: they are embracing all kinds of secular practices the way the Israelites turned toward idol worship.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, the people defied him, and he was overcome with anger and shattered the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. Similarly, when I came bringing the Principle and the understanding that can save the world, people laughed and rejected me.

Young people are being corrupted by such satanic influences as drugs and sexual promiscuity. Satan is using such things to lead them to their death. This is exactly the kind of thing that occurred when the Israelites disobeyed Moses. In the midst of all the degradation of the world, the Unification Church is emerging with a message and banner of hope. We are carrying the standard of God's truth and we are practicing His principles.

God's plan is for the Korean people to lead this crusade followed by the Japanese; these two nationalities together can lead the American people. There has been enmity among these three nations in the past, but now they are coming together under God's direction. Because this unity is occurring, there is hope for unity throughout the world.

The Heart of Offering

We are living here in the United States but we are a new breed of people; our goal and purpose are different. Once we reach Canaan, we must restore the nation, tribe, clan and family.

Now we are doing economic activities; this is a time to make a 100% offering to God. You should tell God, "Everything that belongs to me is Yours." When you go fundraising with such an attitude, you are making a condition to restore the entire world and all things of creation.

To make a perfect offering, you go out and raise funds, add something of your own, and then offer it to God. Instead of taking a percentage of the results for yourself, you can add a percentage from your own possessions. Perhaps you can take off your coat and offer it, or offer a schoolbook or a piece of jewelry. You need to set the condition of offering something from your personal resources.

The Bible tells the story of Ananias and Sapphira, a rich couple who sold their resources and told Peter they had given everything to the community of Christians, although they actually kept part of it for themselves. The moment they lied to Peter, they were punished by God and fell down dead. This is a dramatic expression of how God expects people to make an offering.

I am teaching you how to make an offering by giving you fundraising experiences. When you are given pocket money for personal expenses, you can return it and ask that it be spent for God's purpose.

Recently, one of the MFT commanders came to me asking for some awards for the most successful members on the MFT I asked him what they would like and he told me that all they wanted was a signed picture of Mother and me. They weren't interested in material things, even though they dedicate their daily lives to raising funds. They only wanted some memento of True Parents.

This world is a vicious place, a "dog-eat-dog" society. How different is the Unification Church society! The United States is the front line of our campaign for world salvation. We have brought to this country large sums of money over the past four years, but no newspapers have reported these facts. On the contrary, they promote the idea that I am draining this country's resources, using young people like slaves, and piling up money somewhere else. This kind of treatment I simply accept as good indemnity. Eventually, the American people and the world will know the truth. Never before has someone invested so much effort and resources for the sake of America, trying to revive the American spirit.

U.S. politicians themselves are often not very dedicated to the welfare of this country. When representatives of other governments come here, they usually ask for something for their country. I came here, however, under all kinds of persecution, and have been investing everything to aid this country. Once the American people realize this, they will support my activities.

Now we are in the process of creating The Washington Times, which can disseminate the truthful viewpoint. Lies can be very believable; truth, on the other hand, may sometimes be hard to accept. But ultimately, truth will stand up after all the lies have fallen away. Then people will understand what Reverend Moon is all about. Every penny our movement spends is carefully evaluated in terms of achieving God's will.

In order to erect a foundation of faith, each person must make some material offering. After setting a foundation of faith, a foundation of substance must follow. This means physical restoration on the human level-Cain and Abel must be restored. Abel must reach out to Cain and together they must come to God as united, loving brothers. Why is this necessary?

The Old Testament era was the era of offerings, of laying the foundation of faith. The New Testament era was the era of the foundation of substance; Jesus came in the position of Abel in relation to the world, which was Cain. Once the foundations of faith and substance have been successfully laid, we can make the foundation to receive the Messiah. What is the Messiah? True Parents.

The Foundations of Faith and Substance

The order of restoration, then, is all things of creation first, next relationships among brothers and sisters, and finally the position of parents. This is how the process of creation originally took place: God created all things first and then Adam and Eve. Finally they were supposed to become the true parents of all mankind. The ultimate goal was the complete unity of Adam and Eve's family with God's love.

The family is the building block of the Kingdom of Heaven. The family is the boundary line that separates the heavenly world from the satanic world. God's plan is to hold husband and wife in His arms, within His domain. If God rules the husband-wife relationship, He has all other relationships and all things of creation as well.

When husband and wife come together, there should be no room for Satan to accuse them. If Satan can say, "That person is not worthy; he didn't set a proper foundation of faith and he didn't do any witnessing," that would be unfortunate. In order to be completely free of accusation, you should go through this course before you get married.

The foundation of faith is necessary before restoring the relationship between Cain and Abel. Because of the human fall, all things of creation fell into the hands of Satan through Cain; Cain has everything and uses them for satanic purposes. But you must be different from previous people. As Abel, you must be different from Cain. Unless you restore the position of all things and the relationship between brothers- Cain and Abel-you are not worthy to receive the position of parent.

Until the brothers are united, they cannot come to their parents. Why'? The elder brother's position was supposed to be the one closest to God but Satan stole that position. Therefore, God assigned to the younger brother the restoration of the elder brother. Only upon the foundation of their unity could the Messiah be received. Cain must go to meet the Messiah through Abel, his mediator. Eve is supposed to help Abel successfully restore Cain. Holding her two sons Cain and Abel in her arms, Eve can then go to her husband and restore family unity.

In the last days, the world is divided into two basic sides: the communist and the free world. They are in the position of the Cain world and Abel world. Both must meet the Messiah and both must find unity. Christianity should stand in the position of Eve, but since Christianity's influence in the world is so weak, the Unification Church has come forward to take that position and embrace the two worlds of Cain and Abel. Although Christianity was supposed to fulfill that role, the Unification Church is now in the position of Eve.

In order to receive the Messiah, you must become an Abel and restore your Cain. Then you can unite with Eve and meet the Messiah. Centering upon the parents, you can then enter into a union with God as a family unit. This is the beginning of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and the end of Satan's rule. Because of the human fall, mankind's lineage became stained by sin. Through the Blessing, the blood lineage is changed and purified.

Since this is the culmination of human history, confusion is rampant, especially among young people. Teenagers are being led into all kinds of immoral and impure activities. As teenagers in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed. Now the original human fall is being reenacted on the worldwide level among teenagers through such phenomena as "streaking," free sex, homosexuality, and sexual abuse of children by their own parents and grandparents. Incredible perversions are occurring all over the world; the human fall is being multiplied on a worldwide scale.

But we are in the position to set a new tradition. We are creating historic family foundations. We must not fall victim to the world's temptations because we are in a position to begin God's realm. You engaged couples must be completely free from lust for some other man or woman. Even to think of sexual relationships with someone other than your fiancé is a sin. You should remain completely pure, liquidate the past, and become new men and women. You must nurture your relationship with your heavenly counterpart, your fiancé.

In the Garden of Eden, God created only one man and one woman, not two men and two women. What if Adam had been deformed or had a hunchback? Still he was the only man and Eve could not have rejected him. Eve was supposed to marry Adam and they were supposed to become the parents of all mankind. They were to marry primarily for the sake of God, not for themselves.

Your Marriage Course

This should be the motivation for your marriage as well. Whenever you think, I don't want to marry my fiancé," you should remember these points. Adam and Eve were completely at the mercy of God; they had no choice of a mate. In the true tradition, therefore, parents should decide whom their children ought to marry. You are marrying for the sake of your parents, in a way. Until you marry, you live in your parents' home and have no real claims of your own. From the Principle point of view, do you think that what I am saying is correct or not'?

Even after Eve fell, if Adam had been stronger and had not fallen, God could have restored Eve much more easily. The great tragedy was that they defiled each other. According to the same principle, women who fall away from the truth today must not defile their fiancé. If you men cut off from such a woman, God will provide you with a better bride. God selected Mother for me; I didn't do it myself. If either fiancé commits sin and becomes defiled, there is still room for restoration as long as the other remains pure.

Fallen love is the trap, which Satan has been employing for 6,000 biblical years. In a split second, you can make the gravest mistake. You are like sticks of dynamite; but for a couple's love to explode in beautiful joy, the fuses of two dynamite sticks must not be lit until the right moment. Otherwise, their explosion will shatter them. For the consummation of your love to be constructive, the order must come from God, through the True Parents, and then on to you. If it happens at the wrong time, the love will be directed by Satan. Your love should focus outward for the sake of God and True Parents, and not inward on yourselves.

You will meet some day, after each of you has been cleansed as an individual. On that promised day when you come together as husband and wife, you will become one body and one family, with the approval and blessing of God and True Parents. After that you can live happily together. If you touch your fiancée in an intimate way while you are engaged, you are defiling her. Even though she is your fiancée, you are not authorized to take her love in that way. You must first cleanse your past.

When you walk down the aisle at your wedding, you must have no thoughts of the girls you dated in the past; you must never criticize your heavenly bride according to the standards of the fallen world, wishing she were prettier, or taller, or whatever. You must regard your wife as God's gift to you; your blessed spouse is the best one possible for you, much better than a king or queen. You are a son of God marrying a daughter of God; you are marrying a princess! There is no greater position in the world than that.

Don't defile your mind and think about your past fallen sexual experiences. You should consider your previous loves your worst enemies. You must cut off from that past; you must become clean men and women when you enter the Blessing. Cut off all the strings attaching you to the satanic world and free yourself; then you can cross over into the heavenly realm.

Once you enter the family-level dispensation, a higher standard of accomplishment is required. When you receive the Blessing and start your family, it is like you are given an automobile for driving along the highway to the Heavenly Kingdom. You must be able to drive the car; if the car starts to break down, you will be in trouble. When you no longer live as just an individual but as a family, your problems will be magnified.

Restoration through indemnity is your medicine. Even though the medicine tastes bitter, you must swallow it in order to be cured. You certainly don't enjoy the taste of the medicine, but you realize it is your only means to be healed.

You must realize that behind you lies a long history of ancestral sin. To liquidate that history as an individual requires a great amount of indemnity. If you are a fine, handsome man, a good way to do it would be to marry and love an unattractive woman. By doing so you can completely liberate your sinful ancestry.

I resolved to accept as my bride an elderly, very fat woman if God so desired. Since my attitude was to accept absolutely anyone God chose, God gave me a beautiful, young woman Mother-as my bride. No one can accuse that match, either, because it was not of my own initiative; it was completely from God and the spirit world. That is the law of indemnity.

The second 21-Year Course

Some of you may spend all your time worrying about your fiancé and your future marriage. But remember that until now the highest religious teachings have demanded a celibate life of their devotees. Each of you should regard it a great privilege to be allowed to live together as man and wife in order to accomplish God's will. I have come to give you this great Blessing; you should be totally humble and appreciate how precious it is.

Now we are embarking on the second 21-year course; you are now going to walk the path as children. It is not too late for you to resolve to follow the mainstream of the Unification Church tradition. Those of you who have not done fundraising must go through it; those of you who do not have spiritual children must gain some. Then you can meet the parents.

You have a Home Church, which represents the entire world; it is your small world. Whatever you accomplish in Home Church God will recognize as having been accomplished for the entire world. Your 360 homes are your microcosm of the world; within them you will find everything you would encounter in the world.

I cannot teach you about the foundation of faith unless you do fundraising. The same with the foundation of substance. What is the foundation to receive the Messiah? Jesus wanted to find his bride, but he could not; therefore, he predicted that he would return for his bride. The Old Testament era was the foundation of faith, the New Testament era the foundation of substance, and the Completed Testament era the foundation to receive the Messiah.

We must indemnify the entire world. For this reason, I started my mission from a lowly position. I had to indemnify all of history, beginning with the Old Testament era, going through the New Testament era, and finally reaching the Completed Testament era. During the past 20 years, these three eras have been restored. All the chaos of human history has been put into proper order.

Nothing comes easy. You must wage your battle and win it. Restoration through indemnity requires an enormous effort. Once my court battle is over in this country, Korea will welcome me. But if I do not win the victory here, Korea will be unable to welcome me. Once I go to the communist world and win a victory, I can return to the United States and be welcomed here.

I am waging my battles against the evils of this country. I have battled against the communist world as well. By now the communists realize that they cannot surpass the philosophy and commitment of the Unification movement and they are taking a defensive posture. In Bonn, West Germany, the leftists organized a huge demonstration of about 280,000 people. We mobilized only about 300 people for a counter-demonstration and we actually made the news before the larger demonstration. When Mr. Brezhnev visited West Germany, no one else did anything to challenge him. We were the only ones with enough guts and commitment to demonstrate against him.

Our goal is not to kill the Russians; we must educate and liberate them. We do not want to destroy Red China, either. Our international highway system will be a concrete example of a worldwide peace movement.

If you have not yet accomplished enough for the foundations of faith, substance, and receiving the Messiah, you should do it now in your Home Church. Raise money, bring people, and organize all kinds of activities in your Home Church area. You will be married in a heavenly wedding when you accomplish these foundations of faith, substance and receiving the Messiah. Only then will you qualify to be married.

Home Church and Society

Have you fulfilled your Home Church foundation? Since 1977 1 have been speaking and pushing you toward the Home Church providence. Through Home Church you can inherit everything from the past, present, and future. Times are changing. Public opinion is more open now, so your job is infinitely easier than mine has been. You can be accepted much more easily than I ever was.

In less than three percent of your 360 homes will you encounter outright rejection. Has anyone ever tried to kill you for coming to his home and trying to serve him? No such thing will happen. So far in history, Cain killed Abel, Esau wanted to kill Jacob, and Egypt tried to kill all the Jews. Murder of one's enemies has been the world's method. Even now, people want to have me killed.

I know Satan's tactics very clearly. The first attempt is character assassination. If that doesn't work, they will try to convict me through legal means and send me to jail. If that doesn't work, they will resort to violence. It is simply the satanic method nothing new. Certainly it is the method of communism. What if you walked down the streets of New York shouting, "I'm a Moonie. Shoot me if you want to"? Nobody would do it. However, I am being stalked by people who wish to kill me. There are many people who want to stop me.

Ronald Reagan is an example of someone who was protected by God. Even those who were critically wounded during the attempt on his life survived because God intervened on their behalf. Pope John Paul, as well, was saved directly by God. I know that God is protecting me, too, in a special way.

Would you like to have me come with you when you fundraise and do Home Church? You would like it, but you know my dangerous position in this world. Your attitude, then, should be to carry on the fight and work for the cause on your own. You should begin now, at the outset of this new year.

We are living during an incredible dispensation. Over the past 2,000 years, multitudes of saints and martyrs have shed their blood and tears for God's purposes. Even with all that sacrifice, however, they could not see the day of glory and witness the return of the Lord, the marriage of the Lamb. Who are you? Each of you has been handed a better position than even Jesus Christ himself. He was not given the heavenly Blessing, but you are going to receive it. How great and amazing is your Blessing!

Think of it: your children will be in God's direct lineage, born without original sin. They will be entered in Heaven's register as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. What qualifications do you have to bring your children to that level? What good things have you done? Can you expect to be given such an incredible Blessing, which God's people paid for by thousands of years of suffering, without making some kind of condition? In order to receive it, you absolutely must do something. The opportunity to make that condition is by doing Home Church; that is your mandate.

In order to restore Cain, you must win on all levels: individual, family, clan, and so on. Can you try to grab them all at once? Is seven years too long? Human history extends back at least 700,000 or 800,000 years. Can you grab all historical blessings in six or seven years? Such an attitude is that of a thief! In order to become a member of an ideal heavenly family, you must do Home Church.

Home Church is the realm of the tribal messiah. Even Jesus could not establish his own tribe. The unity of Zechariah's family as Cain with the family of Joseph and Jesus as Abel would have achieved tribal-level restoration. Once you successfully restore your Home Church, your tribe and clan will automatically be restored. The two Home Churches will become one. After that, you will go to the national level Home Church. Your value to your nation will be proportionate to the number of people you can draw from your Home Church area to serve their nation. Home Church is the criterion by which you will be entitled to receive reward from Heaven.

Within the Unification Church we are bringing together the Cain and Abel tribes of Judaism and Christianity. After that unity is truly achieved, I must bring unity between the communist and democratic worlds. After the mission is completed here in the United States, I will go to Russia. Once unity is achieved between the United States and Russia, I will go into the spirit world.

World Restoration through Home Church

The United States is a melting pot for all the world's races and nationalities. Your 360 homes represent the whole world. A circle contains 360 degrees and one lunar year has 360 days. You will discover every conceivable condition in Home Church, which is a microcosm of the world. The various races there might represent the various eras of the dispensation: blacks might represent the Old Testament era, Hispanics the New Testament era, whites the Completed Testament era. There is a certain logic to the development of history, and Home Church is the best place to bring everything together.

Yellow people are the most numerous race, followed by whites and finally blacks. Even whites and blacks combined do not equal the numbers of Oriental people. Realizing the vast power and numbers of people there, communism has sought out Asia. The United States has tried to retreat from Asia and it feels it has no need for Africa. I am concentrating on the yellow race as the key to world unity; there are now 3.1 billion Oriental people.

You go to your Home Church area under the direction of Reverend Moon, an Oriental. There you find all races, including blacks, whites, Hispanics, and American Indians. American Indians are a yellow race that the white people conquered with violence in this country. The extermination of the Indians in this country was an act of evil. It is appropriate to the law of indemnity that a yellow person, Reverend Moon, should come to the United States and send out you white people to conquer the nation, not by force but by love and truth. However, you are under my dominion only in an external sense; God, Himself is directing you through the love and truth which I bring.

Many Western nations are currently suffering from widespread drug addiction. In the past, the Anglo- Saxon people, primarily Great Britain, imported opium into China and encouraged drug addiction there in order to obtain money and riches from China. The Opium War was a famous conflict in history. Now Red China is a major cultivator of opium poppies and is exporting great amounts of heroin and opium, causing the corruption of Western youth and gaining great amounts of money as well. This is evidence of the law of cause and effect.

For this reason I came to sow truth and love in this country. Nothing can stop me; no power on earth is strong enough to withstand the power of God, which is marching with me.

We must fulfill the mission, which was left incomplete by Jesus Christ. If you white Americans do not do it, God will shift to the black people. Then how ashamed you whites will be! Now Japan is overtaking the West in practically every area of technology. In this new age, Asia is playing an ever more prominent role.

I may appear stubborn and people may think I am blind to the world's reality, but I am not. I am very aware of God and how He is leading the world. It is truly God who turns the pages of history. No one before has spoken of history in this sense.

Are you happy people? Do you say yes because you are just passively listening to me, or are you happy because you have a great purpose in life and have found many fulfillment through it?

Our Unusual Ways

In Latin America people take siestas in the afternoon; in Europe summer vacations are a tradition. But for Moonies there is no time for such things. Some people accuse the black people of being lazy, but the fact is that once black people join the Unification movement, they become the most diligent and hardworking members, especially in Africa. They work so hard because they long to save the entire African continent. They are motivated by God's ideology.

When you come to Belvedere, you often wish that I would not speak more than two hours or so. The members in Africa, however, are praying for me to come to speak to them; they are willing to sit for 24 hours and listen to me. They think you are all spoiled!

Why do you suppose I speak for such a long time and insist on certain things? I never know what God's plan for me might be. I could be called to the spirit world today. If that happened, I wouldn't want to regret withholding some teaching you needed. There is no guarantee that I will live a certain length of time. When you come to Belvedere, you represent the people of the entire world. I can trust only you people. Therefore, I am teaching you everything. This is the parent's heart. You are a special, trusted breed; therefore, I am going to unload everything on you!

Our relationship will not end with this earthly plane but will continue in the spirit world, where we will see each other every day. When we all enter the spirit world, I do not want you to have any regrets. I don't want you to look back and realize that you did not take my sermons seriously. If that happened, you would not feel very comfortable and you would not be well accepted there. I would rather hear you say, "Father, thanks to your seven hour sermon on December 27, 1981, 1 was completely changed and my commitment to Home Church was doubled. Thank you so much." In that light, this seven hour "ordeal" is nothing; it is actually a joy.

It is with a parental heart that I speak to you for such a long time. It is up to you whether you take it seriously or not. I know that scholars and thinkers will take it seriously in the future. I am speaking not only to you but to history and all your posterity. This particular sermon is making a footprint in history.

There is no way you can bypass Home Church work and still come to the True Parents. Of all the gifts I can give you, Home Church is the greatest; receive it with all sincerity, integrity and seriousness. Through Home Church we will transcend all boundaries, whether national, racial, or cultural. The heavenly nation is blossoming and we are bringing hope to Christianity and to the United States through Home Church.

Even if I were to pass away now, you would be capable of saving this nation. Each of you has been taught your responsibilities. You must know that I have brought the historical victory. You know the True Parents well. Now your duty and mission is to fulfill your responsibilities. This will be your joy and blessing. Amen!

If you have been living by a lukewarm standard so far, change it beginning with 1982. From now on, have absolute confidence in what you are doing. You should regulate yourself according to the Principle.

Since I have completed my duties here, perhaps I should take a nap now and then, or go on a vacation. God is encouraging me to do that. Maybe in this coming year I will sleep for one month without stopping! If you come to Belvedere and don't see me, you might ask where I am and hear the answer, "He's sleeping." The following week, when you come again, the answer might be, "He's still sleeping." What would you say to that? Would you be indignant?

What if I started to wear a suit made of golden fabric? God wants to indemnify all the deprivation and suffering poor people have undergone in the past, and maybe He could do so by giving me a suit of gold. But wearing a gold-plated suit would not be easy; since it would be awkward and uncomfortable, it would still be indemnity! Would you point your finger at me and call me crazy?

Sometimes when I go to sea, I kill fish with my hands and eat them raw. Maybe by doing so I can vindicate all the thousands of people who died at the mercy of the sea!

The new year is coming, and I might do some unusual things. Would you have trust in me, no matter what I do, that I will not deviate from the Principle? Can you maintain confidence that there is a meaning and purpose behind everything I do?

I want to prepare you for the coming year so that you can be invincible champions for God. God bless you.

Wanting To Live In The Kingdom Of Heaven

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
December 20, 1981
Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

If someone asked you where is the Kingdom of Heaven, what would you say? There is a simple way to describe the Kingdom of Heaven. It is a nice place, a happy place where a person can have everything he wants. It is the place where the ideal dwells.

Who needs the Kingdom of Heaven? First of all, God does, then all beings in spirit world, including the angels. Most religions have taught that only after death can people experience Heaven; they have had no hope for the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

If you want to solve a math problem, you need the correct formula and then you can experience the joy of finding the solution. This is true in daily life as well. You have many problems and struggles which must be solved. After a great deal of hard work, once you find the solutions you feel joyful.

Everything in life requires a process. The process of education begins with kindergarten, then elementary school, then middle school, high school, university and finally out into the world which is the goal of the learning process. Can you ever say along the way that your time in elementary school was worthless? Of course not. You needed elementary school to learn how to read and write, the most basic understanding which you still use even at the top of the learning process. Many times people forget the importance of each step in the process of education but it is a cumulative effort by which one goes step by step to the pinnacle.

The same thing is true about the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the highest goal of human life. Can you reach that point by just jumping into it? No, the Kingdom of Heaven must be reached by a certain process. There must be a kindergarten for the Kingdom of Heaven, an elementary school, high school and all the steps up to the Ph.D. level. After going through the Ph.D. training you can truly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Many people think, "I want to live for myself on earth but when I die I want to go to Heaven." They think they are very clever and try to devise the best way to live a secular, self-centered life on earth and then get to Heaven, too.

When you drive down a bumpy dirt road, your seat becomes very sore from all the bumps. If you suddenly come to a smoother graveled road it feels like heaven in comparison. The next level of improvement would be a paved road, then a two-lane highway and finally a divided super highway, which is truly heaven. However, the aspiration of people has no end. If you had been driving an old jeep on that super highway and you were given a sleek new Cadillac, you would really feel you had raised your level. There are many levels to everything. Even though you may be able to drive 80 mph in that Cadillac, your aspiration never ends and you might feel like you want to go 200 miles per hour.

To elevate yourself from one level to another, you must follow a certain formula or process. You can't omit your middle school education and go on to high school. Even if a boy is very mature, handsome and intelligent, he can't be admitted to high school without completing the proper levels leading up to high school. Or suppose a young woman has a huge diamond ring. Does that qualify her to skip middle school and jump to high school, even if her diamond ring is worth more than the high school building? Of course not. There is no way to avoid the particular process of getting an education.

In this sense there are no people more greedy than some religious people. who say, "I want to get to Heaven; I have faith and I want to jump right in, so let me in!" In a way, that's like trying to swindle one's way into Heaven. It's trying to obtain the highest level-Heaven-by just a small amount of effort. It's almost like someone saying, "I want to become a doctor by meditating. I don't want to do anything else. If I just sit here and have faith, I will automatically deserve an MD" That certainly won't happen. Receiving a passport to Heaven is much more difficult and requires more effort than getting an MD degree.

Why did you come to this meeting today, knowing that you would have to sit on the hard floor? Everybody in the secular world expects to be sleeping at this time of the morning, but you came here. We are all here because we want to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why you became a Moonie and why you go through difficult experiences such as fund raising witnessing and home church. Other people don't even want to think about the things that you do every day.

If someone wants to be a good student he can never completely forget his studies no matter what he is doing. Whether he is eating or playing sports he is still thinking, "I'll enjoy this for now but soon I have to go back to my studies." If someone thinks, "I hate to study and go to classes," there is no chance for him to do well in school. Such a poor student may be aware that there are tests coming soon, but if he doesn't care about it he will certainly do poorly. It is imperative that the good student be mindful of every step along the way, every test and assignment.

The Unification Church is a training process like a school through which you must gain a certain certification or recognition. Do you want to experience only nice, pleasant activities in a church or do you need to go through hard work, difficulties and tribulations? You need both the good and the undesirable experiences in life, and you need to pass both examinations, not only the joyful one but also the painful one.

A good student always makes a plan and studies the harder subjects first. If math is his hardest course, he will tackle his math assignments first and then move on to the other subjects which are all easier.

Are you a good student or a bad student? You can evaluate your own position. In the Unification Church way of life there are two different kinds of students. There are some people who are always looking to receive more and more joy from God and only want to look on the sunny side of life. Those of you who are sitting on the front row must have made a lot of effort to get here early. You are a different kind of student from those who are outside listening to the loudspeaker and half dozing. Those of you who woke up at 1:00 in the morning to get here early used a lot of time and effort. Sometimes a good student seems to be wasting time because he uses it in such ways, but sacrifice of time is necessary in order to achieve the good results. The bad student normally looks for a shortcut, thinking "How can I get the easiest way out?" But in order to achieve something good one must make determined effort.

Some of the elder members of the Unification Church say, "I've been a UC member for 10 years. I'm a holy man now, so don't touch me. Don't even ask me to go to a workshop and don't try to push me out to do menial things like fund raising!" There is another type of member who thinks, "I've been in the movement for 10 years but I still don't understand enough about the True Parents. I want to know Divine Principle better and become a better teacher. I need more effort." Ten years ago a person might have gone fund raising without understanding the significance of it. After ten years in the movement he can fund raise with a different heart, knowing how valuable it is.

I sent some of the elder members and national leaders from Europe out to the front line to do fund raising and witnessing. They were shocked and said, "Father, do we have to start all over again?" but later they came to me and thanked me for making them true Unification Church members. They felt that until they were put in the position of front line soldiers, they had been only external Unification Church members.

As Unification Church members grow, they learn how to deal with all kinds of people including those at the top levels of society. You gain a certain polish and prestige on the external level. But while this external level is going up the internal level of a person should go down, becoming meeker and more humble, loving and sacrificial. By going up externally and down internally, you can achieve a beautiful harmony. In this way a person becomes a truly exemplary member of the Unification Church.

If there is a huge object it will cast a big shadow behind it. The bigger the side to the sun, the bigger the shadow that will fall behind. Reverend Moon also has a side that faces the sun and a side that casts a shadow. Unification Church members are saying, "Reverend Moon is a great spiritual leader. He is like my spiritual father." They are seeing the sunny side of Reverend Moon. On the other hand the people in the world who are standing in the shadow think that Reverend Moon is a "monster." I am not disturbed by those people because I will embrace both those on the sunny side and those who are standing in the shadow. I never say, "I only like Unification Church members because they praise and appreciate me. I don't like the people who criticize me." It is not my way of life to receive only the good things and reject the bad.

Therefore I am teaching you to go out to the world and witness to the people who oppose you. With such an attitude, will we digest the world or will the world digest us? Some people say, "I don't want to receive any persecution, only joy and glory," but this is almost like saying, "I don't want to have a shadow, I only want to have a sunny side." It won't work.

Knowing these points, we must look at ourselves. Who is the wise person? Who will ultimately get to the Kingdom of Heaven? Where do the Unification Church members find their Heaven? Do you only search for joyful, pleasant experiences to find Heaven? Or do you embrace the missions and the chores that are unpleasant in order to find your way to the Kingdom?

If I am a true teacher to the worldwide members of the Unification Church should I tell you to take it easy, be comfortable and have fun? Or shouldn't the good, true teacher push you out so that your body and all your five senses have to be focused upon your work? You should not have many idle moments, but you need to learn how to be activated and disciplined to do your most determined effort. Should I say, "You only need to work during the day, not at night time"? There isn't enough time to spend on lots of makeup. Even washing your face takes a lot of time, so you can just wash your eyes every morning to wake up and then jump out for the mission. Do you think God will say you are naughty for not washing your face? Instead He will be proud of you for your determination and effort. At night when you are so tired that you are sleeping like a log, God will come in with a handkerchief and wash your face and sprinkle a little perfume on you. He will think, "I know this boy will go out tomorrow morning without even washing his face, so I'd better do it for him." Also, God knows how sore and tired your legs are and he will say, "I know those two legs won't last very long at this rate, so I want to massage them." God cannot afford to lose those two legs that are doing so much for His providence.

The person who lives such a way of life is truly a good student in the Unification Church. I made one mistake and that was to buy the New Yorker Hotel. Each of you has too much room, with too much space. God is more attentive to you when you are all close together the way you are here in this room. Some people complain saying, "Why doesn't Father buy some chairs for Belvedere after all these years? My legs and hips get too tired every Sunday!" But others think, "I am so privileged to be here, sitting on the floor another Sunday morning at Belvedere!" When your hips or your legs complain you should tell them, "Be silent! I am honored to be here." I observe all kinds of motions you go through, twisting and turning trying to get comfortable.

Some of you find your head falling forward even though you want to listen to the sermon so you say to yourself, "Don't be weak! Wake up!" Such people are making a determined effort.

Many of you who are engaged are thinking, "Father, why can't you bless us so that we can live together as a family?" You have that immediate desire, but five years from now when you have 3, 4 or 5 children will you be able to take care of them? Will you be coming to me saying, "I can't take care of my family. Can you pay for their school tuition?" If you did that would you be a good student or a bad one?

For everyone there are problems and contradictions in life which he must overcome. Both the bad student and the good student must face the sunny side of life and the dark side. Nothing stands still in the universe and everything has its turn. The sunny side is bound to become the dark side eventually and the dark side is bound to turn sunny sooner or later. Therefore once you are ready for the dark side, trained and conditioned to endure cold weather and difficulties, when you experience the sunny side it is totally heaven for you. But the person who can deal only with the sunny side of life and does not know how to cope with the difficult times will feel he is in total hell when the dark side comes around, which it inevitably will. It is a law of nature that without a low place there cannot be a high place; and without a narrow place there can be no wide place. A person cannot even understand what is wide unless he knows what is narrow. Everybody seeks for high, wide and deep places but in order to appreciate them you must know their opposites.

All great and large things can be measured by a small measurement. The yardstick contains within it the foot and the inch measurements. Can someone say, "I prefer to measure things by the biggest measurement, the yardstick.

not by the inch? The yard is a multiplication of the inch so without knowing the inch, one cannot understand the yard. That basic standard of measurement for the inch must be clear-cut and absolute in order for the larger measurement to be clear. The wise person seeks to go inch-by-inch, perfecting the standard of that fundamental measurement, and then moving forward into the larger domains. The person who foolishly grasps the yard first can have no knowledge of the inch and foot measurements, but he who masters the inch measurement first simply multiplies it until it becomes a foot and a yard.

I have seen many people in the Unification Church who have sought only to make themselves a "yard" rather than a little inch. However, I am urging each of you to become an inch first and perfect your basic standard of the inch. People protest saying, "No, Father, I only want to be a big yardstick," but if you master only the yard, you will have no way to bring yourself down to the foot and the inch measurements. If you start out with the inch you can go all the way to the top by simply multiplying. Many of you are listening to this "inch-message" and you feel repelled because you think you are already on the level of the yardstick.

The Bible says, "Know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Therefore when you live by the truth, becoming a true "inch-stick" you can go anywhere freely, whether it is on the inch level, the foot level or the yard level and beyond. But if you try to live according to a lie, trying to become a yardstick prematurely, everything will be blocked for you. It is much better to become a true inch-stick than a false yardstick. You have been wanderers, neither inch sticks nor yardsticks, but someplace in-between. Now if you bring yourself down to the lowly position of the inch, will you welcome it or regret it? Do you feel good about my pushing you to make yourselves small and humble? Whether you like it or not, I must speak the truth to you. There is no exception to the laws of the universe. Not even God himself is exempt.

God should be the center and the first being in the Kingdom of Heaven. Then true men and women and finally the true things of creation. Certainly God feels himself to be the center of the universe and the Kingdom of Heaven, but is this an easy job that is lots of fun? Or does He have a huge responsibility? As the central figure for the entire cosmos, His responsibility is absolutely giant. If God were to forget His responsibilities for just one second it would be a disaster. Can God think, "I want to close up shop and take off one day?" Not at all. People think, "I have been working too hard so I need a week off for a vacation." If God took a vacation, the cosmos would not survive. Therefore God cannot doze for one second; in fact, He cannot even take a rest. In the spirit world there is no night time, no resting time. In order for God to be able to work non-stop, He couldn't afford to have a physical body. God exists beyond time and space fulfilling His responsibilities for the cosmos. If we are His children, can we think of abandoning our responsibilities and taking a week or a month off? Certainly that would be an affront to God.

This is the Yuletide season and everyone is excited about the approach of Christmas Day. It's the time of parties and holiday festivities for most people, but what about God? Instead of being happy and ready to take a vacation, He is beset with more problems than ever. During holidays, there are more traffic deaths, more crime and more suffering than normal. When God has to observe His children dying from these things, He can't sing joyfully, "Merry Christmas to everybody!"

As Moonies we live a different kind of life from people in the secular world. Most people go off on trips and vacations during the summertime, deserting the cities to go to the beaches and the mountains. Last summer I went to Germany where I spent three months in a hot, sweaty environment. Instead of a vacation I set up special conditions for witnessing and it was a busy season. You may not like such things but you have to admit that activities like that are good ones. They are good because they reflect the activities of God. If I want to be an object to God then I must do what God does, responding to His needs.

We must know how we are related to our ultimate central figure, which is God New York City is a place of hell. Multitudes of people have become like human trash; their lives are ruined and they are only waiting to be tossed into the dungeons of hell. We are people who have the power to stop this tragedy, to reverse this process. This is why we must live differently. We are striving to be objects to God and God is different from this hellish world. If you respond to God's efforts you are bound to be different from the rest of the world. We must bring about the restoration of New York City and make it a place that brings joy and glory to God. Once that happens we can take a vacation joyfully.

Why doesn't Reverend Moon seek an easier way of life? I could separate myself from the secular world and live as a "holy man." Why do I work against the spread of communism; why do I fight against organized persecution; why am I bothering with these things? After all, because I bother with these things many people have come against me. The reason I bother and worry about all those different "secular" things is that God is worrying about them. If I want to respond to God and be His object, I cannot ignore the world. I feel that as object to God I will never fail to respond to God's desires. When God stops, I will stop. I know that by pursuing this route to the end I will change this world and bring it back to God.

Of those who know me, none denies that I have worked harder than anyone else in the Unification Church. Why have I been so foolish as to take the cup of suffering? No one enjoys being persecuted throughout his life, having fingers pointed at him and being spit at; I don't like it, either. Why do I take this position, then? Because that is exactly the position God has been put in. The world spits at God, they proudly pronounce that God is dead, they curse God. How can I avoid being persecuted and mistreated? If I am truly a representative of God then I will receive the same treatment that God receives. But the man of God must continue to do God's will, embracing the world and loving it with a pure heart. There is no other way to become a child of God. As you live together with God, sharing in His life, you shall become men and women of God.

There are many ministers preaching their Sunday sermons today but where is there a minister who cares about God's suffering, God's mistreatment at the hands of the sinful world? Reverend Moon is the one man who is crying in the wilderness, speaking out on behalf of God. We must forget our own salvation, which is secondary, and we must concentrate upon the salvation of God. There are so many situations in this world which God absolutely abhors. I want to volunteer to clean up those things in order to allow God to take joy from this world.

All the ancestors of the human race are watching this world from spirit world and are observing the actions of Rev. Moon. They are not calling me a fool for going this difficult path; instead, they consider me a champion and they are urging me on. The spirit world is shouting, "Don't get tired, Reverend Moon, even though you are getting old. Don't stop!" Mohammed Ali, at the age of 36, has been defeated as the heavyweight champion but even though I am 62, I refuse to be defeated. I'm going to be a winner in this championship.

If you understand how God suffers in agony over this world and you know that Rev. Moon is one man who is trying to follow God's will no matter what comes against him, would you want to become a disciple of Reverend Moon? Do you want to follow Reverend Moon even though people curse you and call you names? If you want to be a Moonie in spite of all this suffering, it is because you understand a simple fact. You know that no matter what the world says about Reverend Moon, God loves him and God loves Moonies. If you love God, you want to take a parallel position with Him and not contradict Him. Our value is not determined by how the world sees us but whether or not we can become loving objects to God.

Unification Church members are of all ages. Some of you probably wished that you had joined the Church at a younger age, but since you cannot go back and start over, at least you are fortunate enough to be here now. You can bring your children into the world, teaching them to live their lives parallel to God from the beginning. All of you can think, "I am going to make my future family a God centered family." No matter how high is heaven and how low is earth, as long as you are harboring the same thoughts and desires as God, you and He are one. You will be one with the Most High, and within you will be the Kingdom of Heaven.

Each of you should think, "I not only want to live my life with God, but I want to transform New York into a Godly city and serve America until it becomes a Godly nation, and the whole world, as well." With such an attitude, even hell will eventually be transformed into Heaven. This is the will of God so we must be the champions to undertake and complete this task. When you are thinking and living in such a way, you and God will be inseparable. Therefore, anything God possesses will be yours. Any power or spirit that God manifests is yours as well.

We must be champions representing all the religions and people of the world, marching forward toward God. How wonderful that life is! Would people who live like that be shaken by the communists or by persecution? Never! I always think in this way, "If God needs someone to die for His cause, I am the first volunteer." This is the way I live my life and this is the spirit upon which the Unification Church was created. Although our church has been persecuted and has suffered, it never stopped me in any way or changed my mind even one iota.

We must think about our lives and how we have been living. How far are you from the absolute standard of which I have been speaking? If you are not close to that standard, you should repent and begin to unite your life with it. Why do you need to unite with me? If you follow this way, you will be able to find unity with God; God will be yours, and you will be God's in an inseparable relationship. I am striving to bring all of you to that level of relationship with God. I look at my own family from this viewpoint, expecting my children to live up to that standard. Sometimes I see that it is not happening 100% and I make effort to see that it does. Sometimes my ideas and Mother's are not 100% the same but I must continue to go this way.

I have completed my mission here in America. December 18, two days ago, was the tenth anniversary of my arrival in this country. These past ten years have been tough and in many ways a very suffering time. However, I never denied this course or rejected the suffering that came my way. Now after ten years my attitude is "Go ahead and put upon my shoulders whatever persecution you must. I shall not retreat." I am going to continue to the end standing up for what is right. I know justice will prevail. So far I have not had any freedom because of the job I had to do in this country, but from now on I have the freedom to move on to the rest of the world. I did not come here to live in this country permanently. The time will come when I leave the United States and you will assume my position, taking on my responsibility and marching forward to victory.

Right here and now we must make up our minds to achieve victory and to become responsible men and women. With the end of 1981, all conditions for my 21-year course have been completed. No matter by what calendar, my 21-course is finished.

A baby grows inside the mother's womb for nine months as a separate individual from the mother. The Unification Church is like a womb and you are like the baby inside that womb. Many times, you forget that you are inside of that womb. You think, "This is my life!" but it's not just your life. In your blood stream flows the blood of your father and your mother. You are truly a branch or an extension of the life of your parents. You enjoy a certain familiarity with your environment. It is not a strange place.

Life within the Kingdom of Heaven is the same. You have an environment with God at the center. God is the essence and center of love. He is also the originator and the master of life. Within the Kingdom of Heaven, each person has his own heavenly position and property. Thus the content of the Kingdom of Heaven revolves around love, life and property.

A baby within the womb is the result of the love of the parents, the lives of the parents and is the property of the parents. One's existence does not come about all of a sudden but must arise out of an environment. Most people want to belong to a good, honorable family because such a family provides the best environment. When someone belongs to a good family he also belongs to the prestige and good tradition of that family.

God is in the most honorable position in the universe. He is the center of love, the master of life and He owns everything. What is His purpose in owning everything? God's purpose is to expand, to multiply Himself to an infinite amount. Within God there is the quality of a man's love and the quality of a women's love. By having sons and daughters, God can expand himself in both directions; and by their coming together, they can become whole.

Whose property are you? Your parents can claim you as their property, but the American way of thinking is, "I am 1. 1 own myself and no one else has any claim on me." You can only say, "I am 1," once you recognize that you are the extension and the property of the parents. When you can inherit that property, then you can say, "I am 1." Each person is the property of his parents but at the same time his parents are his property. How can this be? Because through the unity of love between the child and the parents, each can say he owns the other. The love and the life of the parents came together to bring about your existence and you are an extension of their love and life. You own them and they own you; you are theirs and they are yours.

The same formula can be extended all the way to the level of God. Everything living in this universe is an extension of the love of God and the life of God. Therefore, we are all together God's property.

What is the purpose and goal of fallen man? We want to be restored into the position of object to God. What does "object of God" mean? We will come to the position where we can claim that we are the extension of the love and life of God. Do you have the power of the life of God within you? What about the love of God? That is the ultimate question to ask yourself. Whether you live or die you cannot avoid this destiny. You must be restored into the position of object to God, where you can claim, "God's love and life are dwelling within me."

Who is God? God is the common parent toward every person in mankind. He looks at everyone as His child. The same relationship between parents and children can be applied to God and yourself. You can say, "I am the extension of the life and love of God, therefore, I am the property of God. At the same time, God is my property." You can also say, "I am the object of the love of God; I am the object of the life of God. Therefore, I am dwelling within the happiness of God and I am a part of His happiness." That is the position which we must fulfill, that object position to God where the dwelling of God's love and life can be found.

Therefore our life, our energy and power is given by God. When the source of our energy is the love of God, whatever we do is the representation of God; your action will be God's action. With this source of energy we can face the world and digest all of its evils.

Some people might say, "It sounds attractive to live a life for God but I don't like having to go out and represent God to the world and trying to digest the world's evils." Historically, religions have always taught people to serve the world with sacrificial, humble meekness but most people don't like that. Living a meek and humble life is not easy. I am always pushing you, "Go out to the world and be humble, be meek, be sacrificial and serve the people." Many times you answer me, "Yes, I will do it," but you actually step back and try to retreat from my direction. You must understand why we have to live in such a way.

Parents don't pretend in front of their children. Even a royal king is like a child before his children. No one says, "I am a king. Bow down to me, my child." The king laughs and smiles with his baby, kissing him on the cheek. When a little baby dirties his diaper, does he feel shame and guilt? No, he smiles and enjoys himself. He doesn't care if the parents have a hard time changing his diaper. Such things are natural to the baby and the parent can accept it because of love. In love there is nothing ugly.

When you visit the room of a very old grandparent, you might notice a funny smell. An elderly husband and wife who have lived together for many years may live in a house that smells bad to other people, but they are accustomed to each other's smells so they don't notice anything unusual. That is a beautiful thing.

The world of love is connected to the world of spirit. When an old grandfather holds a little baby the baby will not care if he smells bad. The baby can touch the old grandfather's beard and enjoy it very much. However when the baby grows older and becomes a teenager, he may be offended if his grandfather smells bad. The naive, pure world of the little child is one in which the closeness of love can be felt purely. Once you lose your purity, you fall away from that world of love. Particularly in the American way of life, a kind of unnatural standard has been created which corrupts people without their even realizing it. It is easy to lose your purity and your naive, genuine feeling; that is bad. We in the Unification Church must restore that purity and genuineness.

Very old people sometimes revert to a "second childhood." Sometimes they even have to use diapers because they cannot control their bodily functions. When a person is young he is cared for by his parents, but when the parents become very old, their children take care of them. In this way the grandfather and grandmother become like babies and the son and daughter become like their parents. This is a beautiful give and take, the turning of the cycle.

Sons and daughters should respect their elders and their own parents to the point of taking care of them when they are no longer able to care for their own bodily functions. Such children are truly sons and daughters of filial piety.

Let me depict a situation for you. Suppose you are a married couple and you live in a home with your parents and your own children. You have a very young baby who is not yet toilet trained, but your parents are in the same situation and cannot, control their body functions. You have two different "bathroom situations," so where should you put your priority? The American way is to think, "I must take care of my child. I can send my parents to a nursing home and let someone else take care of them." The Oriental philosophy is different-they take care of the parents first, then they care for the child. This is the more heavenly way.

Why should a person care for his parents first before his child? It is because the parents are above you in your lineage and they are therefore closer to God. Caring for the elderly is a beautiful thing. When you are out on the street and you see an old grandmother walking on a cane with difficulty, you ought to take her arm and help her. When anyone looks at such a sight, they smile and are moved by the beauty of it. Not just people in this world, but everyone in spirit world and even God himself is moved by such beauty.

When you enter into spirit world your entire ancestral lineage, from the very beginning thousands of years ago, will all come to welcome you. You are many thousands of generations down the line. Everybody else there is older than you so you cannot say, "All of you must kneel down before me. I am the boss." Also you wouldn't say, "Don't bother me, I don't want to have anything to do with you."

You enter the Kingdom of Heaven by stepping across the bridge of your ancestors. You must walk on the shoulders of those who came before you. You cannot do this by any power, knowledge, or accomplishment but only by love. You ancestors will feel joy to have you step across their shoulders if you are united with them in love. If you establish the tradition of serving your parents and grandparents as you serve your own child, once you enter into the spirit world you can be instantly united with your entire ancestral tree, including God who is at the top of your ancestral tree. You can go anywhere freely and be united with everyone in spirit world. Every barrier will be broken down because you set the tradition here on earth of serving your own child and your own parents with love.

I have asked older persons from time to time if they would like to go to senior citizens homes. They always said "No." Would God agree with such a desire on the part of those old people or would He think that they ought to go to senior citizens homes? God would certainly agree with them. What if your parents were so feeble that they couldn't control their bodily functions? Would you still want to be around them? Should I agree with the American system of sending old people off to institutions, or should I continue to say that it is not right? What I am saying is the Principle. It is truth of a universal, unchanging nature.

The parent/child relationship is the basic building block of the Kingdom of Heaven and it must be expanded to the society, nation, world and cosmos. If you don't have the good fortune to have your parents still living on the earth, then you should serve other parents like they were your own. If you don't have any children or your children are all grown up, then love other children as you would love your own child. This is even nobler than loving your own child. If you go to Africa you should serve in the same spirit. The African grandmother will be like your own grandmother; the African child is your own son. Likewise if you go to South America, the North Pole, the South Pole, Asia, or the Middle East, it doesn't make any difference. You should practice this principle of love and wherever you go in the world you can create the Kingdom of Heaven there.

This ideal can be fulfilled within one family. In one family you can find the three basic skin colors of the human race. Suppose there is a black mother breast feeding her white baby; the mother and child will gaze at each other in love. This is a dramatic fulfillment of the will of God. Only through genuine parental love can such unity appear. There can be no color or racial barriers. The "white supremacist" who says that black people are not on the level of whites will find a rude awakening when he goes to spirit world. God will assign a black supervisor to such a person with the assignment to treat him cruelly, kicking and hitting him. Would that white supremacist still be glad that he lived the way he did on the earth? No, he would have much regret. That is the law of cause and effect and no one can avoid the consequences of that law. No matter what, you cannot bend or go beyond the Principle.

Where is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is the place where the life and the love of God are found. It is the dwelling of God. In order to live in that kind of Kingdom, you must be willing and eager to take care of your own baby and also your old, feeble parents.

You can evaluate yourself and whom you love the most. Do you love yourself the most? Do you love your spouse the most or your own children? Do you know how to love others, including your parents? The person who serves himself last, putting others before him, shall be in the highest position in the Kingdom of Heaven.

What kind of God do we have? Does God say, "I am the almighty God. I created you, my children, so you must glorify me and serve me! Do everything for me because I want to live for myself." God is not that kind of God. In fact, God is the opposite of that. God is the one who has set the tradition of humbly serving and loving the world. God's tradition is that of changing diapers, enduring bad smells and caring for the bodily functions of people. God has done nothing but serve and sacrifice and He is asking us to follow His tradition.

When you become a married couple living a happy life, suppose Mother and I came knocking on your door one day. Suppose we were very elderly, barely able to walk and we said, "Son, can we come in and stay in your house?" What would you say? Would you say, "Father and Mother, please stand out there and wait while I think about it." What if, instead of Mother and myself we sent some other old couple as our representative? If that other old couple came knocking at your door, what would you do then? Would you treat them the same as you would treat Mother and me?

What you do becomes what your children do. What your children do becomes what your grandchildren do. This is tradition. We know in our minds what the Kingdom of Heaven is all about, but the important question is whether or not we are living it. In our homes we should have a separate guest room always ready for people passing by, even helpless, sick people and beggars. Think of it. If everybody in the society, nation and world lived in such a way, no one would have to wonder about the Kingdom of Heaven. It would be there already in substance. You wouldn't have to pray or train yourself to think according to God's way of thinking. We are living our lives the way we do now, like coming to Belvedere early on a Sunday morning, because we still have to reach out for that goal of the Kingdom of Heaven. We are still wanting to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. If you can create that Kingdom here on the earth, you don't have to worry about the spirit world; it will be wide open to you.

An honor student at a good university will be sought out by prospective employers, even if he tries to hide from them. If you as a Moonie are giving yourself totally to the principled way of life even if you try to hide yourself saying that you don't deserve to go to the Kingdom of Heaven, God will say, "What do you mean, my son? Come here, come into the Kingdom of Heaven!" In other words, you will have no alternative but to live in the Kingdom of Heaven if you are living according to the Principle.

When I go into New York City I don't concentrate on the skyscrapers. Instead I notice the dirty, dark alleys; the places where the Mafia and the drug addicts are working; I see where the prostitutes and thieves work. My thinking is, "How can I clean up those things?" Isn't it true that somebody has to clean up those things? Should I just leave them alone, or should I do something about them? That's why you are asked to go and do home church. If there are 1,000 evil-doers in your home church area when you first get there, one year later by your example and service you can reduce that number to 800. The second year you can reduce them to 500; the third year, 200. Finally, by the fifth year, there will be no one in your area who is doing evil. You can serve the elderly people in your area. Do their laundry, cook for them, clean their houses for them. I have done such things myself.

Wherever you go, walk with a loving mind and a loving heart. Love is a contradiction. It is good, beautiful and sweet, but the practice of love is often painful, sacrificial, and even smelly!

People tend to conceptualize God as sitting on a throne, wearing a crown and ordering the universe around, but that kind of false concept has to be changed. We must come to know the reality of God's situation. God has told me that my understanding is correct so no matter what people may say about me, I will continue to live this way and go this route. I could have had a much easier life if I had chosen to become the minister of some wealthy, established church, but I asked God to direct my life. Either Reverend Moon is very foolish or very wise.

What about you? Are you wise people or foolish people? You want to live in the Kingdom of Heaven, isn't that correct? You are working hard, serving, witnessing, fundraising, in order to take the shortest path to the Kingdom of Heaven. You are learning to digest both this world and spirit world all at once. Within yourself you are creating the Kingdom of Heaven.

Can you complain because of persecution and hard work, then? You may be living in a sacrificial way now, but the reward is infinitely great. When you serve the world with a parental heart, the world will reward you. When you live for the sake of the entire cosmos, the cosmos will reward you for all eternity. Whenever a child is living in a sacrificial way to serve his parents, those parents appreciate that child and will never forget his efforts. This same principle applies to God.

So far people have known about the Kingdom of Heaven but they haven't known how to get there. The way to the Kingdom of Heaven is not an easy way; it is not a rosy and glorious way. A person must live his life with service, meekness and sacrifice in order to get there. However, most people don't even want to hear about such things and that is what is wrong with this world. The barrier will never be removed between mankind and God without going through that process. Only when mankind is united in love can the dwelling of God be with man.

What will unite mankind? Only the meek, humble, serving way of life. God himself is the epitome of such a way of life. Who can be more patient than God or more forgiving, more unconditionally sacrificial? Think about the way people curse God. Certainly God has the power, if He wanted to use it, to destroy those who are saying "God is dead." People often feel the urge for revenge against those who mistreat them, but God does not use his power for revenge. God is patient, waiting for you to be awakened. He is giving you time and forgiveness, over and over again. This is why God is truly the King of the entire cosmos. Those men who used the power of the world to do evil, such as Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, haven't even got the power to lift their heads in spirit world.

There have been many people who have left the Unification Church after having said, "Father, I want to be an exemplary member and help you in your work for the rest of my life." Do you think I pray, "God, please bring down the legions of hell to destroy those ex-Moonies?" Never. I pray to God for their forgiveness. It's an amazing thing that, even though established Christianity has opposed me so strongly, I have spent much money and effort to help them to understand our message. The purpose of God is not to destroy, but to save. This includes the communists, as well.

If there were a world senate, what kind of president do you think they would elect? A president who would want to give himself tirelessly for the sake of the world's citizens or a president who would sacrifice the world for his own benefit? Certainly the world would want the first kind. With sacrificial service you can go deeply into this world and cleanse it. When you go down deeper and deeper you will have to go all the way down to the bottom of hell. After Jesus was crucified he went down into the dungeons of hell first for three days to preach the gospel. The power of unselfish love can cleanse everything, even hell. With that power we can literally build the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. We come to the ultimate conclusion that God is truly the King of wisdom.

You have the aspiration to live in the Kingdom of Heaven; every one of you is wanting to live in that Kingdom. Some people have complained, "My fiancé is not the perfect match for me. We have so many problems; I want to break my engagement." But think about the Kingdom of Heaven and how to get there. The way to Heaven is the way of patience and endurance; you must be able to love unconditionally and sacrificially. God is trying to teach each person through his fiancé a realm that he could never learn in any other way. You should think, "My fiancé is a gift from God to teach me how to go to Heaven." God is trying to bring every sinner back into the position of His own true child. This is a seemingly impossible job, if you think of it. Can you say, "My fiancé is not handsome enough for me. And he's too short; he's Japanese." Please raise your hand if you are a perfect person. Then how can you complain against your fiancé?

Suppose you are a handsome man and you happen to be engaged to an ugly woman. If you serve and love that woman unconditionally, uniting and making a harmonious family with her, you have already claimed Heaven for yourself. That wife will be able to do more good for her husband than any other woman because she will be able to make him a saint.

When you adopt this way of life nothing can trouble you any more. Furthermore you can become a troubleshooter for the world. As someone who can conquer the problems of the world, you will be able to live a wonderful way of life. When you are living that way of life, you will be eligible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. God will be more than willing to accept you with open arms. Those of you who are determined to become eligible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, please raise your hands. God bless you!

Our Pride

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
December 13,1981
Belvedere
Translator: Bo Hi Pak

What is our pride? The meaning of the word "pride" includes showing or even boasting about something. In this room, we have all different skin colors -- white, yellow, and black. Think about everyone trying to show off -- the white community showing off among themselves, for example. The black race has their own pride, and the yellow race has theirs, too. They all have things to be proud of. When people try to be proud among themselves and also before other races, where does it end? White people might point to their skin or their blue eyes. Blue eyes could promote a sense of pride in a person, but brown eyes have their own beauty, too.

A white person might say boastfully, "My eyes are large and deep blue. Look at them!" But a yellow person might say, "Look at my eyes! They are very thin and protected, their color is brown, and that is special." Everybody has his reasons for liking his own things, so you like yours and I like mine.

What things can you be proud of in your face? Four things, basically: eyes, nose, mouth and ears. Fashion magazines seem to prefer thin and long faces, but some people like round and heavy faces. Everything depends on your viewpoint. When you try to compete with others over things to be proud of, there is no end -- white people have their viewpoint, yellow people have their viewpoint or their claim, and black people also. Everyone thinks of himself as Number One.

People have double features -- the external self and the internal self -- but you cannot see your internal self with your eyes. That means you cannot see how much there is within the internal self to be proud of. There are so many things to be proud of in the internal self. When the internal self looks at a white person full of pride for his eyes, his skin color or his hair, what do you think the internal self feels? Normally, those who are show-offs in an external way have very ugly internal characters, while those who are proud of their internal character often have ugly exteriors.

Why is it that the external show-off usually has an ugly internal character? That is the way the universe gets even you cannot have everything; normally you have to give up something to gain something else. Therefore, those who have an outstanding and beautiful external appearance often have a very poor internal character, and vice-versa. Those who bring great damage to mankind are they normally very attractive people or very ugly people? Regardless of race, throughout history those who have brought the greatest damage to mankind have been those who were proud of their external appearance.

Those who are the most devout, outstanding Unification Church members are they the most beautiful people externally or just so-so? Very often, those who have the features of an Idaho potato are the most loyal members of the Unification Church. So those of you who am not so externally attractive should not be discouraged, because you have something else to have pride in.

We must determine what we are going to be truly proud of. Women are often very careful about their hands; they manicure their nails, cover them with creams, and make them very beautiful. But no matter how beautiful your hands might be, once you reach the age of 30 or so, your hands start to lose their beauty.

The most beautiful hands in the world are the hands of loving mothers. Their hands are very hard working, rough, callused and even ugly, but they are the most beautiful hands. Which would touch the heart of a son of filial piety more -- a beautiful, manicured hand, or the hard working, rough hands of his suffering mother? Certainly, the rough hands would move the heart of the son most deeply. Sacrificial love is embodied in those rough hands of the mother who suffers for the sake of her son and family.

No matter how physically beautiful your eyes might be, if they are shining with the light of jealousy, or you are pursuing your own ambitions and trying to harm others to benefit yourself, those eyes do not have true beauty. In fact, they are the most fearful and ugliest eyes of all. Suppose someone else has very unattractive, irregularly shaped eyes, but they shine with the light of mercy and compassion. Those eyes are truly beautiful, with a magnetic power to move your heart. Can you understand this description?

When the motivation of the internal character is that of love, then everything else becomes beautiful -- internal qualities are the true determining factors of a person's beauty or ugliness.

Here we are together, all races and skin colors. If we are to find pride in something, on what basis should that pride rest, on an internal quality or an external one? Someone might take care of himself -- dressing well, eating well, and looking so dignified and elegant externally -- but if his mind is dark and ugly, then that person has no true value; nothing to be truly proud of.

We come to the conclusion that as men and women we cannot have pride in external things but only in internal qualities. Perhaps some of you Unification Church women are concerned that when you look in the mirror you see that you are not a beauty queen, and you are afraid that your future husband will not like you because of that. Today, cast away those worries! You must have pride in your internal self -- you have the most valuable, God-given treasure.

Suppose a very homely Unification Church woman went to the museum of the beauty queens of history. Walking down the aisles, she would see one beauty queen after another. She should think, "You are all proud of your external beauty, but here I am among you, the internal queen of beauty -- The Queen of Queens." All external beauty queens who are proud of their faces and bodies must bow down to the internal beauty queens because they are the true beauties.

Between husband and wife, those women who expect their husbands to admire their eyes and face are expecting only a very shallow kind of love. On the other hand, when ugly men and women of internal beauty gaze at one another with admiration, there is a great depth and strong bond between the two. If a person's love for another is based only upon his external appearance, that love can only last for a few days; after that, he would get fired of just external beauty. However, the person who has less external beauty but has a deep, lovely internal character of compassion and dignity will radiate a beauty that would not bore someone after ten years and onto eternity. So which would you want-external beauty or internal beauty?

When we compare East and West, we see that women of the West tend to value external beauty more, while women of the East tend to value internal things more. When you look at Oriental women, they seem to be shy and passive and lack expression in their faces, so you might wonder if they are capable of loving men. But within that kind of character, a deep love can be harnessed, something mysterious. You have a saying, "Silence is golden." For the Orient, this is very true; sometimes silence is valued most highly. But the Western way of life endeavors to be communicative -- immediately, all at once. And you joke and use humor a lot. This is why there are so many comedians in the Western world. There is a big distance between silence and joking.

The Western way of life is very direct, expressive and, in a way, too hasty. When you say, "Thank you", the other person says quickly, "You're welcome." But in the Orient we say, "Kamsa-hamnida," which means thank you, but it doesn't come too quickly. Then the person receiving the thanks always demurs, saying, "No, no, I haven't done anything for you." The Western way of receiving thanks is so forthright, ready to receive another thanks, again and again, "You're welcome, you're welcome," It's like taking praise freely, as much as possible. But in the Orient, the attitude is different. When you receive thanks from someone, you don't expect to receive more and more, but you just draw back. Which is the more beautiful of the two ways? Taking as much as you can get, or taking just one, humbly? You conclude correctly that the second way is best.

Active expression, in many cases, uses up everything, but with silence, you can imagine infinitely. Silence has all kinds of harmony within itself. This is what Buddhism teaches -- in Nothingness there is no awareness of self, only vacancy and void, there, everything can harmonize perfectly because there is no obstacle or resistance. So when you are actively expressing yourself with words, you are putting up limitations or obstacles to your expression. Of course, I am not denying the value of external communication; but the emphasis must be placed on the internal character, not the external.

We must have a reciprocal relationship between those who have internal beauty and those who have external beauty. Those who have the external beauty should seek after the internal. East and West are living at the extreme ends of the pole. When we look at the two cultures, which represents the more internal one? Because the Eastern character is based upon quietness and silence, it is more reserved and internal. Western character is more external, outgoing, expressive and physical. You can understand that, right?

One very good example of this difference is the high heels which Western women wear. It shows that you just cannot stand still, but have to be leaning and moving forward all the time. Also, you make an effort to have slim waistlines; you cannot move on high heels without thin waists. Since you have to move the hips a great deal, you have to have a thin axis to turn on. American culture is typified in the women's high heels -- you are outgoing, moving forward, you are geared up to go forward and certainly not backwards.

Oriental women have had an ancient tradition of walking quietly, reserved. But Western women cannot walk quietly in high heels; you are bound to make noise. Also, you express your feelings immediately. When you love someone you say, "I love you." Love is such a precious word, but it comes too quick, too cheap sometimes. Even when you meet someone for the first time, you might embrace and kiss. But in the Eastern world, that may not happen in a million years. In Oriental culture, the only person you would think of kissing is your husband or wife, and you don't do it publicly but only in private. Normally, Orientals do not shake hands either.

You might say, "I don't want to live in such a tasteless way." But actually, that is not a true perception. There is a very deep taste to the Oriental way. Westerners want to share their joy by laughing out very loudly and jumping up and down; but the Easterners just smile quietly, while internally there is the same feeling. Their manner is more reserved. In Oriental tradition, women are never expected to laugh out loud, those who are considered the most noble would never do that. One laugh by an Oriental woman would show her appreciation, while the Western way is to laugh out loud a lot, then move on to another situation, never taking time to savor why you were laughing in the first place.

I'm not just trying to criticize Western culture, but I am trying to determine here which culture is the more internal one.

When God decides to send someone to the world that can restore all things, where would God search for His champion to accomplish the mission? Would He look within the Eastern or the Western culture? You say, "Eastern" but that is not necessarily so. If we want to restore all things in the world of physical reality, Westerners are more prepared to deal with that. For this reason, most scientific and economic development has come to the Western world first, not the Eastern world. What should you do with this development? You should move toward the East, in terms of digging deeper into the internal, religious value of things.

Religion deals mainly with the internal aspect of man, not the external. Christianity has been the predominant Western religion, but its role is diminishing; the world requires something, which is beyond the realm of Christianity. It was successful in fulfilling human needs for the past 2,000 years, but today those needs are surpassing traditional Christianity. Now we see the birth of a new religious movement, the Unification Church, which is going deeper than Christianity. Established Christian churches say that the Unification Church is a heretical church, outside the boundaries of Christianity. In a way, they are confessing that Christianity has limits, which can be surpassed.

When we compare established Christianity with the Unification Church, which can we say is the more internal? Why do you say that the Unification Church is more internal? In a way, our church members look dumb; we don't react to all the mistreatment the world heaps upon us. "You are brainwashed!" they say, but we seem to be unconcerned with their persecution. We are digesting all their persecution, and we don't even have diarrhea! We don't show hatred or anger in response, but instead are capable of taking their abuse and rising above it.

When Oriental people come to this culture, they normally don't separate from the society but assimilate into it -- they learn the language and embrace the culture, digesting it. But when Westerners go to the East, they have great difficulty digesting the Eastern culture and languages. You have already made up your minds that Korean and other Eastern languages are virtually impossible for you to learn; that means you are already limiting yourself and you are actually retreating.

Western technology is the most advanced in the world. Japan has been able to excel by digesting the Western technological ways and developing even better ones. When I went to West Germany, I could see that they didn't understand the Japanese mentality; they didn't even want to know about it. They cannot speak the Oriental languages, nor do they know anything about the Orient.

God needs a champion who can embrace all the cultures of the world, including the East and West. Since Easterners have that ability to digest and embrace the West, then that champion his to come from the Eastern culture; God would certainly decide in that way.

The ideal culture of the future will come out of the harmony of the two extremes of East and West. For this reason, you must learn to embrace and digest other cultures. If you try to resist or repel each other, there can be no way to bring about the unified world culture. Is that true?

Here in the United States, people might say, "We don't need anybody's help. Don't come here, you Easterners, because this is our territory!" That is actually a retreat. Some people say to me, "Reverend Moon, you go home! We are all right, we don't need your help; leave us alone." I did not come here to wage a war or confront the Western culture; I came here to digest it, to understand and harmonize with it. Which direction will the world as a whole follow -- the attitude of negative Americans, or the harmonizing attitude of Reverend Moon? You answer "Reverend Moon's attitude" because it is common sense, not because you are a Moonie. Everyone, even an elementary school child, can see the truth of that.

What are the characteristics of Moonies? Moonies are the people who can harmonize with and digest Eastern and Western culture and create God's culture. That's what Moonies are all about. You have been mistreated thousands of times on the streets; people give you a hard time, laughing at you, spitting at you and scorning you. You feel like striking back, but then you say to yourself, "No. I can embrace them." This is the greatness of the Moonies! It is not from cowardice that you ad in such a way, but from strength.

We men and women are here, determined to digest not only the cultures of East and West, but also the spirit world culture and the culture of God. We are going to bring harmony to them all. With this attitude, we can digest millions of things. Therefore, when your wedding comes, you can look at your spouse from an opposite culture and achieve unity that is unbelievable in normal cases. In our families, we are going to have all different colors -- the multicolored families of black, white, and yellow. Through your generations to come, you will create the one, God-centered Unification culture. That is the determination of the Moonies.

This is not easy to practice; this kind of philosophy, as we know, is difficult. But we can digest it and overcome it, not out of cowardice, but greatness. This is the kind of family which all of mankind has been dreaming about for centuries, and it has come to the world through the work of the Unification Church.

In a way, the Unification Church is strange. In the Western world, people don't sit on the floor as you are doing now. In the Unification Church, though, you come here and sit on the floor and listen for hours and hours. That's why your parents have so much difficulty understanding. They say, "You are brainwashed," but you are here to digest the Eastern culture. Those people who oppose us have no capability of understanding what we have perceived - -they have no taste of it -- so they cannot handle us at all. But we have the ability to deal with all the different cultures, so we are standing on victorious ground, while others are already defeated. We are marching forward and they are retreating.

We in the Unification Church have pride that we are people of great capacity. Around the world, there are all kinds of racial conflicts -- between white and black, between Muslims and Jews. Who will be the mediators between these factions? The Unification Church and Reverend Moon. All the hot spots of this troubled world need a mediator. Who has that capacity? The Unification Church and Reverend Moon. Our attitude and way of life is not one of confrontation, but one of unity and harmony.

We are here to harmonize with Buddhism, with Islam and the Jewish religion; we are here to harmonize and unify. Ultimately, we will even digest communism. In order to digest communism, you must be stronger than it is. You are stronger and more determined than the communists; you are trained for that. Is that good or evil? Why is it good? Because you will be capable of inheriting that future culture of God, the culture of unification. Our attitude is that we want to take on the worst problems of the world and digest them.

I am always asking God, "Father, what is your worst headache?" God told me that communism was His worst headache, along with the immorality of youth, also the degradation of world religions, especially Christianity, causes God great pain. I said, "Now that I know what your headaches are, let me take care of them for you." Therefore, I have led the Victory over Communism movement; I launched the great movement to bring moral rearmament to American youth.

I know that sometimes this constant training is very difficult for you. For example, you are engaged for three years and still your wedding day is uncertain. You are still waiting. You know who your future spouse will be, but you obey and wait for that day of wedding. You have told your parents that you must go your own way because you have the determination to do what you want. But why don't you leave Reverend Moon and go your own way? You are clever enough to know that once you go away, you would just hit a wall and eventually have to come back and be embarrassed. You are wise.

I am not so dumb, either. If there were some way to escape this path, I would have done so a long time ago; I knew that no matter where I went, I would have to return to this route, so I just wanted to spare myself the embarrassment! I knew that this was the only path to take. In a way, the Unification Church is like holding on to the tail of a tiger; once you grab hold, you can't release it. But you can never be bored either. If you are true Unification Church members, you cannot be bored by this way of life.

Perhaps in your pragmatic way of thinking, you wonder, "Why do hundreds of us have to go up to Belvedere every Sunday morning? It seems like it would be so much simpler if Reverend Moon, just one person, would come to the World Mission Center and save everybody else all that trouble. But that is exactly what I am aiming at -- you must be able to push yourself, discipline yourself to do what you do not want to do, go where you don't want to go.

You encountered Western teachers in your schooling from elementary school through high school, and on through your Western universities. But now you are under an entirely different kind of teacher Reverend Moon. You tasted a little bit of this teaching and found it sweet; also, it was kind of peculiar -- it gave you new energy and power. Those of you sitting in the front row have the choicest seats, so you have to get here earliest of all. Why don't I dictate who will sit on the front row each week, in advance, to save all the trouble? In order to get the first-class seats you must come first, and maybe you have to come here as early as 2:00 in the morning! That is a precious example of the true value of our way of life. Is it good or bad?

What about you college graduates who go out to do MFT? Is that good or bad? Normally a person wants to climb up; he never wants to learn how to come down. But in the Unification Church you go way down to the bottom and start over again. You are almost like a man who must walk on his hands, it is not easy.

How do you like the taste of kimchee and kochee chan? It makes such a burning sensation in your stomach. So this is the chance to discipline yourself for the time when you might go to the Orient, and then you will not be bothered by the food.

Is this a wonderful place to be, or is it terrible? Can you sit here as men and women of pride? You women don't live the way normal American women live -- you don't have time to manicure your nails and put on a lot of makeup, but you don't worry about all that. I am not insensitive to the difficulties, which you are undergoing. The reason I am asking you to Eve such a way of life is that I know where true value lies. Maybe someday I will come to you with gallons of makeup and direct you to paint yourselves all over with it-that would be indemnity, wouldn't it?

What is our pride, then? We are proud of who we are, of what kind of character we have. That pride transcends the color of our skin. True love doesn't recognize differences in skin color or races. What is the color of true love? The true love color is the color of harmony-harmony between white, black, and yellow, East, and West. We have come to the conclusion that throughout all of history, the one man who has pioneered to bring a world culture of harmony is Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

People call us Moonies; we didn't ask for that name but whatever they call us, it doesn't matter. We are proud of what we are, where we are. Phonetically, the word "Moonie" in Korean means, "design of the fabric"; also it has another meaning: "harmonized discussion." We harmonize, discuss, and we are embroidering a certain pattern of fabric. So it doesn't bother us to be called Moonies. When people call you a Moonie, tell them the phonetic meanings in Korean; that will be a good way to start a discussion.

Normally, when ministers from established Christian churches meet with us they are virtually trembling and thinking, "Oh, I'm dealing with heretics; maybe I'll get possessed from being around these people!" Sometimes they become so scared that within one hour, they just run away. That indicates they are defeated; they have no capacity to deal with us. It is this defeatist attitude which they convey from their pulpits when they say, "Don't even talk with Unification Church members; don't look at them, even." They are trying to frighten their congregation by telling them Moonies do evil things. They talk about Moonies being clean-cut and leading a pure way of life with no immorality and they almost make it sound evil. Being clean-cut, for them, becomes a sin simply because Moonies are that way. What kind of rationale is that?

We are Moonies and we are proud of it! We are the people who can digest the cultures of the world. Wherever we go, we will not be defeated by the culture; we will not fight with it but digest it. Even if we go to undeveloped Africa, it doesn't matter; we will harmonize with the people and elevate their way of life. That does not make you small-minded and cowardly; rather, you are dramatic people of righteousness.

I can deal with all levels of culture, even the most intellectual. I can give a sermon that will enlighten the most knowledgeable people. Professors come to hear me; I don't go to them, but they seek me out. Those who came to the first Science Conference ten years ago were very boastful saying, "We are the top-level scientists in the world." After ten years, those same scientists came to the Chairman's address, listening like little children. In the last Science Conference over 1,000 people adopted a resolution supporting my peace formula. Ten years ago, that would have been impossible. Who digested whom? Did Reverend Moon digest the scientists, or did they digest Reverend Moon?

Some of the top-notch U.S. theologians have joined New Era. They came to East Garden and listened to Reverend Moon, and they ate up every word I said. They wanted to know what I had to say about many things. Amazingly, the average person on the street is opposed to me because of the media and because they don't know any better, but those world intellectuals and scholars are coming to support and appreciate me. Average Christian laymen oppose me because they simply don't know, but those who really know about religion, the highest theologians, come to listen to me. Who is the winner? Reverend Moon or the world?

The battle has been fought; judgment has been made. The umpire has declared the winner. Some think they can still stop Reverend Moon, but it is impossible.

Another amazing thing is that many colleges and theological seminaries are now taking up Reverend Moon's philosophy as part of their curriculum. Dr. Rubenstein, an eminent scholar from the State University of Florida and a foremost theologian, recently confessed that after he met Reverend Moon, he began to understand the Orient and conceded that he needed guidance from the Eastern world. To him, an entire new world has opened up.

By knowing Reverend Moon, scholars come to know not only the Eastern sector of the world, but also another sector of the universe -- spirit world. Dr. Rubenstein had actually become an atheist after studying the Bible and trying to understand all its theories. He had come to the conclusion that there is no God -- until he met me, and then he came back to God.

You see these things happening and you feel that you have the best teacher. Once you digest my teachings, your accomplishments are incredible. But the problem is that often you don't digest what you have been taught. Another problem is that you don't realize who you are and where you are. You begin to suffer from spiritual diarrhea because you cannot digest what I am teaching. What is the best medicine? Endure it, suffer through it, and the diarrhea will go away. Sometimes you feel sorry for yourself: "I'm suffering too much, working so hard every day. Reverend Moon doesn't seem to have any compassion for me; even Dr. Durst doesn't show me any compassion! Oh, I must go away!" But the best medicine for such a disease is not to pet or coddle it, but to kick it out.

Perhaps some of you came here this morning to hear comforting words from me: "Father, I'm weak and suffering; can you have compassion on me?" But the best medicine is for me to be strong with you -- then your diarrhea will stop right away! You've got to win by your own effort or else you will always be dependent on others; God won't be able to trust you.

God told me His three headaches and I told Him that I would take care of them, so how could I expect an easy way out? But I determined that I would continue until I completed my mission -- without stopping or even hesitating no matter how many people fall away. I don't need weak, cowardly people to help me; I need strong champions who will strive to live their whole lives according to the Principle. Do you want to be a champion or a coward? If you want to become a champion and a strong soldier, you've got to be trained, without exception.

You must be determined to go over hardship many times worse than what you are doing now; if so, you will never be deterred or weakened. You can know that you will overcome and be victorious. That is the kind of person each of you must become.

I came back to face this court battle. Most people, even the U.S. government authorities, expected that I would not come back but would just skip the trial. Even though I am not an American citizen, the American court is judging me. I am not going to shrink from this battle or this responsibility; no matter what, nobody can stop me.

The Moonies' pride is both your pride and my pride. It is our pride. Suppose there are storm warnings and everyone is tying up their boats; but Reverend Moon is calling, "Let's go out to the ocean!" I know that during bad weather the enemy is likely to strike; I will never let God down, particularly in bad weather or difficult situations. That is a dramatic, not a foolish way of life. By living this way, we can stop the corruption of the nation and the world. History is made under those circumstances, not under commonplace, ordinary ways of living. New cultures and leaps and bounds of civilization always come through difficult situations and such opportunities.

When people ask, "Are you a Moonie?" do you respond with pride or humiliation? You say you are proud, but why have you sometimes tried to hide the fact that you were a member of the Unification Church? Why can't you proudly declare that you are a member, a follower of Reverend Sun Myung Moon? A couple of days ago, I went to New York City. The streets were filled with crowds of people, thousands of them. I knew I could stop those crowds by saying to them, "I have an important message I am a Moonie; listen to my words!" If I could disguise myself with a wig and a mask, I would go out and do it.

Why are your mouths so silent? Why don't you go out and tell the world, declare to the world our message? Do you have the guts to be a Moonie? You say "yes" here at Belvedere; perhaps you have said a thousand yeses, but how many of those have been fulfilled? Are you fulfilling those yeses? There are all kinds of levels of fulfilling, so which level are you on? The intense or mediocre level? You may think you are being intense, but from God's eyes, you look like a mediocre movement. From my eyes, too, you are mediocre.

Christmas is coming and everybody is shopping and celebrating. You wish you could celebrate, too. But what kind of celebration can God have? What is the meaning of Christmas when the nation is crumbling, churches are becoming corrupted and millions of young people are dying from drugs and evil behavior? Christmas is about salvation, and we are the ones who can truly celebrate Christmas by stopping the people, telling them the way they can begin to prosper and live a true life.

Which way would make us proud? Stopping work for Christmas and taking a couple of weeks' vacation? Or is it the time to intensify our efforts and reverse the decline of the nation? Which way of life would you like?

I visited West Germany for four months, during which time I stayed in a very small room. A good number of people were away on vacation for the summer. I went around to many factories in Germany, morning to night, sometimes going from 2:00 in the morning to 2:00 the next morning.

Which way is your pride taking it easy and going on vacation, or intensifying your efforts to work even harder? I feel that no matter how difficult it may be, I will consummate my mission. Once I do, I may ask God for a vacation, but until then nothing can slow me down. Would you like to adopt my way of life?

Christmas should be a time of greater dedication for you and greater inspiration. Double victory can be won. Everybody else wants to stop working and take it easy, but we work double time and we will have a double victory. You say you want that double victory, but the fulfillment will not be easy. Do you still want to go that way? Your "Yes" answer is our pride.

During this Christmas season, we want to demonstrate what Moonies are. We are going to celebrate Christmas by marching forward to the ultimate victory. Think of yourselves as soldiers and flag-bearers, marching toward the unified culture. Shall we do it?

The Center and My Position

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
December 6, 1981
Belvedere
Translator: Bo Hi Pak

What is the center of one's self? Someone might say, "My eye is my center." Someone like a carpenter, who is very active and uses his hands a lot, might say, "My hands are the center." Someone who is more intellectual might say, "My brain is the center." Different people would have a different interpretation of their center.

However, Unification Church members understand that we have a dual existence. We have a physical body as well as a spiritual body so there are two persons within one. Are they doing parallel things in harmony, or do they contradict each other? For some people, the physical body is their center and it is constantly pulling the spiritual body. In other cases, a person's physical body is guided more by his spiritual body. However, usually there is not complete harmony between the two parts of a person, so there is a contradiction.

When do these two persons within you become one? There must be some center which the physical body and the spiritual body agree on, something which both desire. Should this center be higher or lower than the individual? It should be a higher goal, a higher center. What is that higher center? That is the question.

What is the most important thing for man? Yes, it is love. And what else? Of the three: love, life, and the ideal, which is closest to you? Love and the ideal are complementary or reciprocal. However, life is the starting point. As far as you are concerned, is life itself closest to your heart? Where does life come from? The origin of life is the love of the parents. Your life sprang out of your parents' love. Just as parental love brought you into the world, you are following the same pattern. Your parents came together and created life. You too, when you are united in love, will bring a new life into being.

Our direction is universal: woman is going after man and man is going after woman. Why? The goal of life is to fulfill love. Each person is a participant in the love of the parents. Do you understand? Your existence is proof that you participated in the love of your parents. In this fashion, we not only give birth to descendants, but we climb higher and higher to the level of grandparent and great-grandparent.

Behind you is the historical love of your ancestors -- your parents, grandparents, great great grandparents. You hold the string of the entire ancestral love. What number are you in that history? You do not know exactly where you fit in.

Ultimately, we can draw the conclusion that each person is the extension of the love of God. When you pull on the rope of history, you find that God's love is at the end. Each person living today is an extension of the love of God. When you say "I," contained within that "I" is your father, your mother, and God. We are made in the image of God through love. Each of us is a being who resembles his father and mother and God through love.

Therefore, when you say "I," you are not speaking of a singular being. Let's say you paid back all the debts you have incurred with your father, your mother, and God. What remains? Is there some portion of which you can say, "This is really mine. I have paid all my debts"? Can you say, "I don't care. I am totally independent"? Today American young people are living with great pride in themselves, proclaiming, "I am a free individual!"

When ones say, "Myself," or "Me," it represents all. "Myself" is a round, global entity, a microcosm of all of existence. Would you like to imagine yourself as a square little piece of ground? Or would you like to be round and have depth and width? Would you like to be a "myself" that is totally unrelated to others, singular and alone, or would you like to be the center and representative of the whole?

Using the body as an example, your eye can't say, "I am number one." Can the hand say, "I don't need anything else. I am an independent existence"? What is number one in oneself? You can say, "I am number one," when you truly have both your spiritual and physical body united and centered. That is the unification of oneself. All the senses united in one common purpose.

What would your five senses be most sensitive toward? Yes, the five senses are most sensitive toward and interested in love. Why? It is because your whole being was created by love. That is your history. Each person participated in that creation. Not only were you born in love, you also grew up in parental love.

When you talk about a stepfather or stepmother, it is an entirely different thing. Even if you say, "My stepfather is the President of the United States," does that have the same meaning as if it were your father? A stepfather or stepmother is not the same. Why is that? It is because your origins are not the same. There is a foreign element, so there is no true oneness of heart. Your destiny is different. How about you American boys and girls? Do you like stepfathers and stepmothers? Unfortunately, many American youth grow up under a stepfather or stepmother.

The physical body has five senses and so does the spirit body. At what point do all ten senses come together in unity? It is at the point of true and perfected love. Why do we put the adjectives "perfected" or "true" before the word "love"? The word "true" has great significance. Something true is unchanging. Something true is based on one center, period. There are never two centers. It is a vertical center.

What is the ideal center, which everything in the universe is trying to achieve? Yes, it is God's love. Does God's love have a central direction and purpose, or is it random and whimsical, moving all over the place in whatever way it wants? What do you think? God's love has a definite direction, and is headed toward a definite purpose. Is the direction of God's love upward toward a higher goal or downward? What do you think? How does the love of God move? God's love is not for Himself.

Love is always reciprocal and complementary, taking place through give and take. When we talk about love, we imagine a circuit, a channel of give and take. God must have an object in order to have a two-way or give and take relationship, so God is in the position of a subject looking for an object.

Who could be entitled to become the object of God? Only human beings. What kind of characteristic or quality should a person possess in order to become the object of God? The quality would be sensitivity to love or the ability to be awakened and activated by love.

The eyes want to see love. The nose wants to smell love. The ears want to hear love. The mouth wants to taste love. When we say that the fives senses exist to recognize and enjoy love is that correct or not? Many of you have drooping eyes right now and you seem ready to fall asleep, but suppose that love hit your eyes all of a sudden. Then they would become like sparkling stars! Even if you sewed your mouth shut, as soon as love hit it, your lips would be unzipped and would begin to move. Love activates 100 percent of the potential of everything.

When love hits a man, his five senses respond differently yet harmoniously toward that love. It's almost like a symphony. Would it be better than a symphony? Let's say you have a choice. You could go to hear a symphony orchestra or a love orchestra. Which would you choose? No matter what you're like, you have one thing in common with everyone else. Everybody wants to hear the love symphony, the orchestra of love.

If your body reacts to love in that fashion, what about your internal self, your spiritual body? Would it be more sensitive or less sensitive?

The fives senses of the body have a certain common goal and purpose. Do you think they have a way of detecting that common goal? What if the five senses all acted independently and separately? Suppose your sense of hearing said, "No, I want to go this direction." Then your sense of sight said, "No, I want to go this direction." Your sense of touch said, "No, I don't agree. I'll go this direction." What do you think would happen? That would mean that the love direction would be going toward all different goals-up and down, left and right. There must be a central directional sense. All senses move harmoniously toward one direction, one goal-the true love goal. All the senses come together at that central line.

The important thing is that all five senses have to find and follow the absolute vertical line. In order to come to that vertical line, you have to find the center. First, you have to move horizontally and come to the center; then go up along the vertical line. You have to go through every level of experience. Why is that? When you come to the center, you will be able to relate in all directions freely.

You can't say, "I want to take a shortcut." A shortcut may sound wise and look like an energy-saving method, but actually it's not because in a shortcut there is no flexibility. You have no way to move in all the other directions.

What is the direction and goal of the love of God? The goal of the love of God is the central position. Where can we find such a universal center? God has a certain blueprint, a certain way of achieving that center.

First of all, there was Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were supposed to come together at the true center and become a couple, a husband and wife. When you have a perfect horizontal line, not wavering in any way, then the vertical line will meet it squarely at 90 degrees. Wherever there is a perfected minus, a perfected plus automatically appears. Isn't that so? A perfected plus will always invite a perfected minus, or even create a perfected minus.

Everyone has the natural inclination to search for a perfected minus or plus. If you are a plus, then you are looking for a perfected minus. If you are a minus, then you are looking for a perfected plus. It's a natural tendency for men and women to go after each other. Even if I shouted out, "You women, don't even look at men!" you would look at the men more! If I said, "Men, don't look at women! They are weird creatures and they are not worth looking at," it would never work. It's your nature. Even if your will says, "All right, I won't look at them," the power of nature would pull you.

It is natural law that men and women should meet on the horizontal line. The problem is that now men and women always meet at a different angle. There are all kinds of unhealthy situations. They meet at one degree, or 50 degrees or 30 degrees and so forth. When you meet as man and woman on a horizontal line in the center, then you automatically invite the vertical line of 90 degrees. Do you follow?

After you were engaged, my instruction was, "Don't talk to your fiancé too much. Don't call or even write each other too frequently." You feel so anguished. "Why can't I chase after her every night?" Many people think, "Oh, that is Father's way, the Oriental way." But what am I trying to achieve here? What is my goal in giving these instructions? I only have one reason: I would like you men and women, future husbands and wives, to meet on the perfect horizontal line.

At this time, three elements are approaching the center -- the husband, the wife, and God. All three parts are moving. It's not only you who are moving but also God, who is coming down in a vertical movement. As you step closer and closer to the center horizontally, God comes down closer and closer. At the moment when man and woman finally meet, it's like a lightning flash.

When two electric circuits are shorted, what do you see? A spark. When a short occurs, something exciting happens. It either blows up or winds around or cuts off. Would you like to see it blow up or circle around with sparks flying, making a sparkling, flashing circle? At that particular point universal love also hits, making an even greater spark.

The love of man and woman is like one body, covering up the love of God. If the man happens to be in the lower position and the woman happens to be in the upper position, it doesn't make any difference. God will adjust His position to you. God will make sure that you are always meeting on the horizontal line and the 90-degree vertical line with Him, no matter what. In this central position, the two contrasting forces-the pulling power and the pushing power-are harmonized. The center is absolutely necessary in this universe. You have to have it. Otherwise, you have nothing.

Teenagers typically harbor incredible dreams and fantasies. They live in a world of imagination. Why is the teenager's mind like this and eager to reach out to the entire world? It is because that is the age when each person needs to find his own position. He's searching after his stable position in the universe, trying to find his settlement.

The universe has two layers, the physical and the spiritual. Man also has a dual existence. Between the spiritual and physical we also have to create a horizontal line. The unity of the spiritual and physical persons can only take place through love, centering on God. Are your mind and body united upon the love of God? Yes or no? All men are destined to walk that path. You are going after unity between mind and body, or spirit and body, and you walk toward the horizontal line. The important question is are you moving on the horizontal line, centering upon true love?

Before you men worry about women, you have to worry about your own perfection. You must achieve this perfection. Where are you? Each person should evaluate where he is now.

Once you know this Principle, the center is established. Everything is okay as long as you move on a horizontal basis toward the love of God. Your mind keeps reaching out -- and that mind is saying that you shouldn't let go of the love of God. But then, sometimes your physical body says, "I don't care about that love." The body sometimes becomes rebellious. When total unity is created between man's body and mind, centered upon the true love of God, he is an ideal man. What about women? Women are under the same Principle, working to become ideal women.

Those who are ideal men, raise your hands. There's not even one? Come on! What's happening? You say you are in training? How long does that training last? The important thing is that you know the truth. You know where you can get your diploma. When do you get the diploma for being an ideal man or woman? If you take an exam and fail it, is that the end of it? No. You have to go again, two, three, even a hundred times. You have to persevere until you pass it. Even if you went to the exam hall thousands of times and failed every time, will the administrators say, "Well, you poor guy. Come here and I'll give you points out of sympathy"? If anybody tries to have mercy upon you in such a way, then Satan is right there, saying, "No, no, even after a thousand times, failure is failure. No pass!"

We come to the conclusion that we have to move toward perfection, becoming ideal men or women along the horizontal line, with the love of God as the center. Your mind knows. Your mind is reaching out and it detects true love. Certain things are very torturous to your body, but your mind says, "Go fundraising. Go witnessing. Do hard work. Go to Home Church." Your mind keeps issuing directives all the time. What does your body say? Are you so disciplined that when your mind issues an order, your eyes and all five senses move in that direction without any deviation?

How long have you been in the Unification Church? Many people are very proud, saying, "Well, I've been a member for 10 years." The important thing is whether you passed the exam or not. The time is not important. If you've been in the Unification Church for 10 years but flunked the course every time -- a thousand times -- is your 10-year history a matter of pride or shame? Can you say, "Oh, I'm proud of 10 years of failure in the Unification Church"?

Are you truly ready to accept the necessary education or training to become an ideal person? Who is Reverend Moon and what is he doing? What is the Unification Church all about? Some people say, "Reverend Moon is a slave driver, sending people to MFT. He is always pushing people out to witness." The problem is that they do not discuss the inner content of things but only appearances. Why has fundraising come about? Why do we need it? For what purpose are you paying indemnity? You have to have a goal and a purpose. The proper horizontal level is very difficult to maintain. You want to deviate, thinking, "Oh, I want to go downward today. I want to have an easier time."

Why am I always pushing you toward that very difficult horizontal line? Why do I say that you must move on the horizontal line? Day and night, I am pushing you toward the horizontal line. Why don't I say sometimes, "You've been going along the horizontal line for a long time, so now you can go up 45 degrees for a change, or down to 30 degrees." Some people complain and say, "Father, I've been obeying you for 10 years. For a change, can't you go my way for at least one day?" Do you think I should agree to that?

We're talking about love. We want to restore love. We want to achieve and fulfill love. You have to win the victorious base first, establish the foundation. For example, you have to achieve love through gaining victory over money. You are also putting love above the foundation of knowledge. Love must come above the aspiration for power. That is the Principle. Do you agree to that?

Suppose that if you followed the requirements of making money, you would have love. What about finding love in a moneybag? What about love contained within knowledge -- knowledge being all-powerful? Do you like that? What about power, honor and prestige? Is it the most valuable thing to be able to say, "I'm the President of the United States"?

Don't you want to put love above all these things? Yes, true love is above, that's true! I am saying that love is supreme. Love must be made pure. Therefore, it stands above money, above secular power, above secular knowledge.

In the Unification Church, if you really try to achieve that pure, supreme love, you will be called upon to make sacrifices. One person may sacrifice his education, another person his glorious career. One person sacrifices a creative, professional way of life to go the route of fundraising and witnessing. Some people say, "Well, I just cannot accept that. There must be a compromise somehow."

What about you state leaders? Do you say, "I've had this responsibility for so many years, now I want to go back to school." Maybe some Korean fiancée comes and says, "My husband is not very well-educated. I want to be proud of him, so I want him to get more schooling." Then she whispers in his ear, "Stop your mission for a little while and go back to school." I call them "Korean foxes"! I tell you, using such "Machiavellian" methods, as you call them, will never bring about lasting results. Our church would never have been able to lay its foundation upon such thinking.

Even if the man says to his fiancée, "Don't you think I need a little more education? I want to go to school," she should pull on him. "What are you talking about? Go out for MFT. Go out for witnessing. Do what Father says. That's the best."

Do you want to have perfectly horizontal love, 15 degree-slanted or 30 degree-slanted love? You are clever enough to know the answer, but you do not really want to do it. Do you not only know the answer but want to live up to it? Yes or no?

In a way, I appear to be a very cruel man. I am always thinking, "How can I make them work harder?" Looking at it on the surface, people wonder, "How can Reverend Moon be so cruel? Why doesn't he give us a break?" Let me ask you a question: do you want the horizontal line to be endless and continue all the way for eternity? Or would you like it to be just one hour in length? Why isn't a one-hour horizontal line good enough? The shorter the horizontal line, the smaller the love and joy it contains. If the container is so small, how much love and joy can you put into it?

However, if your horizontal line lasts for eternity and is endless, then your joy and love become endless. Which one do you want? You know the answer. Would you try to do it within one generation, or two or three generations? God always operates on an eternal basis. If you want to achieve this eternal base in seven years, that would be perfectly okay.

What do you feel when you see your fiancé? You feel good, don't you? You feel fond of him or her. The important thing is this: every time you look at your future spouse, you have to consider, "I must be united in mind and body centered upon true love." Are you meeting your fiancé from that position? Your mind and body are not on a perfect horizontal line. If there's a degree slanted either way, then the horizontal line and the 90-degree vertical line are in different directions.

Suppose that your fiancé is in one place, but you are imagining him to be someplace else. Then you say, "Please come over here. This is where I want to meet you." Should your fiancé move down there? If he or she doesn't come, then what happens?

When your mind and body are not on a true horizontal line but on a slanted line, can the vertical line be at 90 degrees? No, it cannot. If the mind and body turn in a sort of circle, it cannot be a perfect circle. It would be oval. When an oval shape is turning inside of you, it creates excessive friction and pain. But when you are perfectly circular, no matter how fast you may turn, you don't even feel that you are turning. It's so quiet, so perfect. Perfect love wants to dwell within that perfect circle. Through that perfect turning, you can love your fiancé. That's the righteous way.

How about you? When your mind and body are not united on the horizontal line, you must be ashamed. If your mind and body are not ready, you cannot call your fiancé. You don't have much to say. You should not even write in that case. With that kind of hand can you try to touch the sacred body of your fiancé? You are not worthy. With that kind of mouth can you kiss your future husband or wife? You are not worthy of it.

This is a serious matter. Within you, you must have a perfect horizontal and perfect vertical line. Your object also has a mind and body, perfectly vertical and perfectly horizontal. When these perfect two have give and take, a perfect circle will be created. A perfect circle has a perfect center, an axis, which will stay in this family for eternity because God dwells within that center.

This true center can be expanded into the nation and it will become the national center. Expanded into the world, it becomes the worldwide center. The center cannot be moved. There are different levels, but the center remains the same. The national center or the worldwide center is the same. The universal or cosmic centers are all in dual layers -- spiritual and physical -- yet it is the same unchanging center.

From the central point, the distance to anywhere in the circle would be the same. It is always cut into perfect halves. As long as your cutting line goes through the center, the direction doesn't make any difference. You can always cut the circle into two perfect parts, perfect halves. However, when the center is in the wrong place and you try to cut that circle into two parts, there is no way to have perfect halves. If the axis is in the wrong place, when it moves, it just deviates more and more.

Do you want love, which is perpetual and eternal, or would you like to have random love with movement, which is undependable? What kind of love would you like? If you want it to be eternal, you have to base it on the eternal center. Then you can start eternal movement. Why do we have to achieve 90 degrees? Conjugal love has to be on the perfectly horizontal line, where the love of God is perfectly vertical. When the vertical love of God meets the horizontal conjugal love, it always meets at 90 degrees.

If you follow the original line of the love of your ancestors all the way from God down to you, should it be a vertical line or a slanted line? It should be a vertical line, which goes down to the axis. Would the center be two or one? That center is an absolute center, which cannot be moved either way.

Today's topic is "The Center and My Position." Do you say, "I don't need the center. I reject it"? All right then, think about what your life should be based on. You may try to create some handy way of life but no one would buy it. It's so cheap; even the dime store wouldn't buy it. God and the spirit world certainly would never buy it. Ideal men and women would never buy it. Maybe a beggar would not buy it but just grab it. Do you want to become trash like that?

As long as your center is correct, the horizontal and the vertical lines are correct, so even if your external shape is ugly or odd, that's okay. Why is that okay? It is because you can alter it; you can smooth it out, shine it up. Then there will be a great many buyers. You'll be in big demand.

What kind of material or "merchandise" are you? Are you cheap or expensive? What price tag are you wearing? "Every Sunday morning -- what torture! Reverend Moon asks me to come to Belvedere, not at 8 o'clock but at 5 o'clock!" Are you here with a spirit burning with the zeal of great hope and greater anticipation? Or are you feeling dull, spiritless, like a bump on a log, staying here only out of duty?

Think about it. Where are your mind and body? You should have burning zeal, saying, "I want to come to Belvedere. I want to sit on the floor and listen, not just on Sunday but every day. Even ten years is okay. I will do it." That is what we call burning zeal. Do you have that? Think about it. If you searched through the libraries of all the great universities, you wouldn't find any greater truth than what you have found here. Amazingly enough, what I am teaching at this humble Belvedere is the only true solution available in the universe. It's almost mind-boggling. Don't you have that confidence?

As long as you are a link along this vertical chain, you will never really die because you're a part of history. When history moves, you'll live on. You'll never be separate from history. Today, at this moment, you're sitting in Belvedere. The next moment you may be going into Harlem. It doesn't make any difference. Wherever you go, you are always with the vertical line. No one can expel you from the realm of God's love. No power under the sun can kick you out of this boundary. On the contrary, the universe embraces and protects such a person and won't allow any harm to come to him.

When you come to the total realization of this truth, that is the moment your resurrection occurs. Universal love begins. In that respect, you are the flag-bearer of the love of God. That is true pride, true greatness.

Think, "No matter what the world says, I don't care. The entire spirit world respects and admires me and is supporting me. The ideal of love is blossoming." In that position, you get attention from the spirit world, from all the saints in history and from the entire angelic world. The attention of God is also directed towards you.

From this sermon, you have realized that our Divine Principle teaching of the heavenly four positions is the eternal truth. This is based on the centrality of love. That's the position where you would like to be born, where you would like to grow up and live for all eternity. That is the heavenly four positions.

If you were trying to live eternally based on anything other than this, would that be a good life? For example, would you like to live for eternity with just a big bag of money? How about knowledge? You think you know a great deal, but when you come before God, would He say, "My dear Ph.D. I bow down to your knowledge"? If you went to the throne of God and said, "I was the President of the United States. You should bow down to me," would God honor such secular power? No, of course not.

I do not deny the need for money, knowledge, and power in this world, but most important is the central supreme need of love. When the world is centered upon the supreme love of God, all power becomes God's power, all money becomes God's money, and all knowledge becomes God's knowledge. We utilize them for the productivity of God's world.

Today's topic is "The Center and My Position." Where is your position? Where would you like to be? Imagine that you are a very small particle of the universe, so small you can hardly be seen. You are becoming a cell of love. You may be very small, but with the horizontal and vertical love, your life will go on for eternity. You will go on seeing, hearing, and touching. That is the ideal way of life. As long as you have the true center, it does not matter if you are big or small. Size alone does not change value or truthfulness.

No one with an individualistic outlook on life can be perfected. We definitely proclaim the value of freedom but that freedom must be based on the true love of God. True love exists in four directions of relationship. In this respect, do you need your parents? Why? That is a relationship, which is required by true love. Your parents are your origin. How can you deny your origins? They are your roots and you are their branches. For many Americans, once you are eighteen, you are grown up, independent, and you no longer need or care much about your parents. Is that the right way of life?

Would you like a life of "fun," taking your own pleasure -- one lover today, another tomorrow, and another the next day? Why not? Why should you keep the 90 degrees between the vertical and horizontal levels? What would be wrong with 15 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees? That is the concept of free sex. People may say they are having lots of fun, but they do not know love. There is no way they can really understand the love we are talking about, the true love of God. They only know animalistic, instinctual love which has no history, no universal concept or ideal. From the eternal point of view, those people are full of all kinds of smells, and the stains of dishonesty, immorality, and illicit love are upon them. Purity has no part of that way of life.

What about you? Do you exhibit purity and genuineness? The Unification Church is a truly wonderful way of life. When you really know the truth, this is the only way for you to go for all eternity. Here we have people of all five colors of skin mingling together as one family of man, happy to marry each other. By asking me to match you, are you constructing the base of your life in a temporal way or for eternity? Why are you going after eternal life? When you have gained eternal life, everything that is eternal will come to you and stick to you as if you were a magnet.

You may say, "When everything comes and sticks to me, that will be very awkward. What shall I do with myself?" Don't worry. Eternal things are all godly, so when eternal things come to you, the power and the love of God will also come to you. You will not be encumbered. The more things come and stick to you, the more grateful you will feel; the more joyful, exhilarated, and ecstatic you will feel infinitely.

Think about the problems of the spirit world. Do they have economic problems? Are they worried about the nuclear bomb? Do they need a national security advisor? Do they seek knowledge, power, or money in the spirit world? If you could bring a dollar bill to the spirit world, no store would accept it. Distance is no problem there. If you want to go anywhere within the entire universe you can do so at the speed of thought. Do you think the speed of thought is faster or slower than the speed of light? God is thought and mind, so God is way ahead of light.

God travels instantly and He travels ahead of our minds also. Universal movement, however, is not straight but circular. Internal movement, in particular, is always circular. A circle always needs an axis. There must be an axis for the universe and God Himself must have a center. Nothing else but true love can be that center. If there were no true love, God would not even want to move. He would just sit in a rocking chair and rock. Why should He work to make a circle? No matter what other motivation is available, without true love, nothing will move. God moves as soon as He is ignited by true love.

Why do we need to unite our mind and body? Because by doing so, we can activate God and His love. Why do you have to have true love, a true and pure relationship with your future spouse? Because by doing so, you can activate God and His love. Why do you, as heavenly husbands and wives, act as patriots, serving the nation? Because that too will activate the love of God. Why do we eagerly serve mankind and the world, trying to follow the tradition of the saints? Because that will activate the love of God. All action, that of families, societies, and the world should be based upon one axis, one center.

In this respect, you come to realize what a great person you are, what a great position you are in. When you make a move, God moves. What a great feeling! Instead of God moving you, you can take the initiative. Activate the love of God and then God will move. How wonderful!

If you are going to Africa, riding in an airplane and looking down at the African continent with a burning zeal to love the people, then God will be moving along with you. God will parallel all your actions. When you move this way or that, God will instantly move with you.

Picture yourself holding a long pole on which the flag of love is flying. You are the flag-bearer. When we Unification Church members live the Principle, are we big or small people? Even small Japanese members become big people, isn't that right? You may be physically small, but centering upon true love, you can be a giant in the universe. I am picturing a small Japanese member trying to hold up the huge flag of love. You need strength to hold this giant flag, but it's no problem: true love will give you that strength.

Do you want to be just loosely together with your beloved, or do you want to be tightly united? Do you want to have a loose oneness or a very tight oneness? Love wants to be very tight. Love is intense. Size does not matter because of the impact and intensity of true love. If a Japanese man is truly burning with zeal to become the flag-bearer, and he loves the world as God loves it, he will become a giant. In that case, the flag of love would become small and the Japanese member would become big. You can become great from the smallest position. From the greatest position, you can become small. That is the power of love.

When you have this love, there is no place you cannot go, nothing you cannot do. That is the ideal. Let us imagine God hiding in a small, secret place, like a broom closet, trying to be undetected. But when you have a true love key, you can open any door and find God. Let's say that God is hiding in a big safe with a million-digit combination. With a true love key, it will open easily.

When you open the door, God may be sleeping, even snoring. To wake Him up, you might try kicking Him. Still sleeping, God may reach out to hold you because, waking or sleeping, God can detect true love. That is your position. How wonderful you are!

In our way of life, we are going out every day, not tired, not bored, not apathetic, but with ecstatic joy. Do you feel that the Unification Church way of life is precious or are you doing it out of duty, just barely making it? Are you a fireball? From today on, will you be different? Will you go out knowing that you are precious, that you are a giant?

We realize that there is a universal center, but the center is really influenced by us. Furthermore, the center exists for us. You may think that you are only working for someone else, but in reality when you serve others, you are truly working for your own benefit. That is why we shall march on in this wonderful way of life. Amen.

Noble Dream

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

People are always contemplating doing something and are always seeking after something. The important thing is what they are looking for, what kind of dream they hope to fulfill. Men and women have dreams, as does a family, nation and even the whole world. On a wider level, the invisible world of spirit is also pursuing a dream. There is some entity which created all the universe and that entity must have had a dream or a reason for creating everything.

If you are living in the midst of a family and society that have a chaotic or confused situation, you feel dizzy, as though you were twisting back and forth, first one direction then another, without control. You want to be turning steadily in one direction, with order and joy. When you relate to some object for a certain purpose then automatically you have a common center between you. The actions of winding and unwinding both have a relationship to the axis. If you are turning first one way and then another, but you are accomplishing something by doing so, then you feel good. Even your eyes want to have a purpose for looking out, not just stare aimlessly or move independently of each other. When a person's two eyes are looking steadily at something, you know he has a purpose in mind.

People often think dreams are phantom things without order or direction, but that is not the kind of dream we are seeking. Our dream has direction, purpose and discipline. It is a high, noble dream. Suppose there was such a thing as a company that manufactured and sold dreams. What would be the highest-quality, most expensive dream? Maybe women would consider the dream of beauty to be the highest quality; the dream would include beautiful clothes and a beautiful face. A man might have the dream of being a broad-shouldered athlete. A woman may have great beauty but if there is no purpose to her beauty, does it have meaning? Would anyone like to be a beautiful doll that stayed all day long in a glass box? No one could tolerate it. Real beauty is not just external appearance, like a doll's, but requires active motion toward a goal, with a purpose.

Do women want to be beautiful in order to impress other women or to relate with other beautiful women? Why does a person have beauty as her dream? Beauty is not an end in itself. but a means to greater fulfillment. The goal of beauty is love. A beautiful woman is searching for a man who will love her. Beauty finds its consummation at the terminal of love.

Men want to be masculine and well-respected, but for what purpose? Suppose you wanted to become the strongest man in the world and you worked out every morning with weights. Once you became the champion, would that be the end? If a man won many boxing matches and finally became the world champion boxer, receiving cheers and a standing ovation from the crowd, how would he feel if some big, tall man came out and presented him with a bouquet of flowers to honor him? Wouldn't he prefer instead to see a beautiful woman stepping forward to present him with the bouquet? You men, tell me, would he prefer getting an enormous bouquet with thousands of flowers from a big, burly man, or would he like a smaller bouquet given to him by a nice lady?

Beauty searches for its complement to find harmony. A man searches for a beautiful, feminine woman and a woman searches for a masculine man. When you see a strong man and a lovely woman together, you feel it is a beautiful sight because they complement each other.

I have observed the faces of American women, with their deep-set eyes and distinct features and I always notice that they have high, sharp noses. I have imagined how it would look to replace those noses with flatter Oriental noses, but decided that it would be totally unbecoming. On the other hand, a sharp, high nose would look out of place with the broad features of an Oriental face. The interesting thing is that though an Oriental nose is flat, it is well-secured! There is harmony among those facial features.

Why is the Mona Lisa so famous? When a happy person looks at that portrait, he feels happier. When a sad person looks at the Mona Lisa, however, he feels more melancholy. That painting reflects all different feelings, so all kinds of people can feel rapport with it.

Harmony is the central theme of the world God created. What would be the highest dream, then? It must be a dream of ideal harmony. You have to ask yourself whether your dream is to bring the entire world into harmony with you, or whether it is to make yourself harmonious with the rest of the world. Women might want to be beautiful so that the entire world will shine because of them. If you smile, then. you should not smile for yourself but for the benefit of all. All your deeds. whether listening, talking, looking, or thinking should not be for yourself; you should do them to harmonize with others. You are a part of the whole. enhancing the value of all. You should become a living Mona Lisa who can have rapport and harmony with the rest of the world.

All men have a dream directed toward such a woman. However. if a man just wants to possess her beauty for himself. the woman will push him out. [if she has an unselfish purpose but the man is thinking selfishly. they cannot harmonize. The man's motivation would be destructive for all. so it would be a righteous deed for her to kick him out.

Men must live in accordance with the same principle. Men have a large, masculine spirit in order to serve others. When a man and a woman can be pulled together, both living in harmony for the sake of others, then the entire universe will be influenced by them. Their center is a noble dream of love. That is the epitome of beauty, which other men and women would look at with admiration and longing. Heaven and earth would respond in the same way.

How would God respond? Would He shout, "You make me nervous when you behave that way! Be selfish and live for yourselves!"? No, God is attracted by the beauty of harmony. If we can grab that nucleus of the universal principle, then the entire universe is pulled by us through that principle. The focal point of the universe is harmonizing, noble love. When you move with such a heart, the whole universe is turned by you and you feel joy. When you are moving in love for eternity, you will never get bored, even if you repeat the same actions over and over.

In love you find eternal give and take. Where is that action of give and take begun and consummated? It can only center upon harmonizing, noble love. Let's assume there is a God. He could not find any better formula than this; so this must be His blueprint for the world. Why are parents the center of a family? Not because they are the oldest, but because they are the center of love. More than brothers and sisters or relatives, the father and mother are symbols of harmonizing love in a home.

That is how the national sovereign should be, as well; ideally, he should be the harmonizing center of love for the nation. Is the American President in that position? Far from it. Presidents have always sought to gain power, rather than give love. Democracy is based upon competition and the central theme is winning over someone else. An ideal society cannot be created in such circumstances. This is the inherent defect in democracy. In politics the contenders rejoice at defeating their opponent, without caring what happens to that individual. They don't think about harmonizing with him but are like people who want to have only day and no night. To achieve political ambition, almost anything has become acceptable.

In this atmosphere of competition and hostility, the old struggles between the races can never be resolved. White people have told blacks that it is their destiny to live as second-class citizens, not realizing that everyone is related to everyone else. Of course there is animosity and confrontation in daily life as a result. How can peace be found there?

Black and white have an inseparable destiny, but they have not realized that. If mankind is described as a mountain, white people could be described as the snow on the peak. At the bottom of the mountain there is black fertile soil in the valley, made rich by all the leaves that have fallen there. Can the snow look down at the valley and feel proud of being white and clean instead of dark like the earth? The mountain cannot be a mountain without the valley; both are important elements and they share the same destiny.

You never know when a beautiful face may be masking something ugly. Can a beauty queen say she is so beautiful that she never has to go to the bathroom? Even a beauty queen has to use the toilet every day! Is the bathroom any more fragrant when she uses it? Most people can tolerate their own smell, but they criticize someone else's bad smell. When you say "I", you are including not only your beautiful face, but also your insides and your smells in the bathroom; you cannot separate these parts of you.

The same principle applies to each race. The yellow race is positioned in the middle of the mountain. When you look at nature, you see a lot of green color, but the green leaves always turn to brown or yellow, eventually. The two colors are like cousins. The predominant color in nature is actually yellow. Spring begins with yellow colors, the forerunner to green, then the autumn season brings more yellow and brown, as leaves turn and fall to the ground. We can conclude that this yellow color is fundamental to nature.

The major world religions were all founded by people from Eastern countries, not white or black people. At this time, one Oriental man is coming forward, crying out, "Let's unite! Let's become the ones to save the world!" It is logical and no accident that this person comes from the Orient; this person is Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

Crops grow better and most beautifully in the valley, so white people must recognize that black soil has the element of life. Thus, instead of giving leftovers to black people, white people should give them their very best; there should be a give and take of life. If black people need more education, white people are responsible for lifting them up and helping them improve their cultural standard.

What kind of high or noble dream do you want? To gain a lot of money? Maybe you want lots of power or knowledge so you can boast about it. However, there must be a deeper, more important dream we can have, some dream that can be welcomed by all of history, everywhere, even by spirit world. That could not be a dream of money or power. Think about it. If you felt every day that you were inching closer to such a dream, would your life be a happy one? Would you be easily bored or tired, or wouldn't you be exuberant every step of the way? I think you would be excited.

When you are pursuing the dream of love, you have no time to be bored or tired. You know you are going in the right direction, and that some day you will jump into your dream and live in the intoxication of the ideal. Even when tears are rolling down your cheeks, they will not be tears of sadness, but tears of joy. Sometimes a person who is frightened will scream, but when you jump into the ideal world of love, your screams will be those of joy.

Anything that is evil in the secular, fallen world will be completely digested and translated into joy by this noble dream. Even suffering and death would not matter because reaching the goal will be many times more compensation. As long as God exists, He must want to be in such a noble place. What would He like to do there? Would He be teaching the alphabet? Would He play cards and solve puzzles? No, He would not want to spend His time in that way. By putting Himself in the center of love, he already has everything. He would have no job remaining, except to be intoxicated in ideal love and rejoice in it.

When God is immersed in love, would the fragrance of that love be so enticing that you would be drawn toward it? Would you feel the urge to touch it, or would you pull your hand away? Would you want to taste more and more of it? You would want to be swallowed up in it, taking it in through all your senses. If people want such ideal love, how much more would God want to impart love with a delightful fragrance to attract people? Is love just the beginning, or is it the end in itself? Love is the fulfillment in itself.

If you felt ecstatic joy in true love would you want to continue forever, or would you get bored? Would love just come to your brain, or would it activate every part of your body? It activates every cell of your body and then moves on to the next person. If God exists then the whole world must be pulled by such power. Such a world must be the ideal world, or heaven. The person who is entitled to enter the heavenly world must have noble, harmonizing love. Is that an exciting, dramatic conclusion, or a dull one?

You know such a world is possible. This morning you have already realized that you are destined to reach that goal. We have no choice about going. Everyone throughout history has to get there one way or another. Would you like to get there quickly? One problem people have today is a lack of will or perseverance. It's no good to know the truth and then feel, "So what?" Do you have the will to get to that ideal world? Normally everyone starts the journey eagerly, but many people are deterred by even a small obstacle. Once you set your will, you need persistence. A woman, for example, may start off with good intentions,

but if a man steps up to discourage her and offer his love, would she continue? I think you are not sure what you would do! I knew an ideal world was possible, and once I began the journey, nothing could slow me down whatsoever. Do you have that kind of will?

The second thing you need is the ability to overcome all obstacles. The most important thing for man is woman. However, that woman is also a temptation to him, the hardest temptation to overcome. Sexual desire is the hardest to overcome, the next is hunger, and then the desire to be well-dressed and attractive. Money is also a temptation because it can provide you with the other things you desire. Money itself is not evil, but is only a tool; so how you employ that money is very important. It is good if you use it to benefit other people and help to create love.

People also like to have position and influence, to become leaders with prestige; but the most important thing is how and where you fulfill love. I am not saying you should not have good positions, but that your position should only be a tool to help you fulfill love. The Unification Church is a training ground where men and women can realize their true goal and learn the discipline necessary to reach that goal. You want to prove you are God's champions; so the world is your testing ground, where you do fund raising, witnessing, work at businesses and do home church. In doing so, you expose yourself to all kinds of worldly temptations and you have to overcome them. If a sister thinks she is beautiful, for instance, she can make herself unattractive to ward off temptation.

We need money for a good purpose, so you learn how to make money. If you don't know how to be financially independent, you will always be pulled by money and defeated by it. A miraculous thing is happening in the history of America: instead of wanting money for yourself, you want it for the service of God. Some members feel heavy if they even think about going out fund raising, but you should know that I have done fund raising also. I have total confidence to survive under any circumstances, even with a wife and twelve children. I can earn money any time. I can be a farmer, a fisherman, a miner, or dock laborer. I excel at everything; therefore, I am not tempted by money.

Right now you are training yourselves to be masters of economic matters. Before you become parents, I want you to have confidence that you can support your family. If you are not prepared, your own loving children will distract you from going the heavenly way. But if you take my word seriously and gain the right experience, you won't have any difficulty.

Our church in Japan has an established tradition that the wives support their families while the husbands are on the front line. Sometimes it may happen that the wife is more needed for a mission and then the husband supports the family. You should have confidence to support your family in any case, not expecting some welfare program from the church after a few years. I never lived that way. I want to move the church forward, not be a burden to the church. Right now I am not thinking about my family economy, but about how to move the world economy forward.

First, you need a persistent will; second, the ability to overcome; and third, you need to know how to execute your plan. Will is an internal thing, and the second is an external struggle, while the third is the actual deed. The final consequence of all these steps is your achievement, the fourth step. I can overcome any obstacle.

You may come every Sunday to sit and listen to me, but you can never be fulfilled until you go through every problem of the real world. The fifth step is reaching the intoxication of the world of love. Until then there are all kinds of headwinds and temptations trying to stop you. If your fiancée is a disturbance to you on this path, then even that person can be your enemy. Even your children can be such an enemy. The Bible clearly says this.

Unless you can complete these five steps, you cannot have your noble dream. In connection with having a persistent will, I want you to know a little about the spirit world. Your thoughts are the real you; that essential part of you will not change one bit when you go to the spirit world, for it remains for eternity. You cannot liberate yourself from your thoughts once you finish life on earth. You are the prisoner of your thoughts.

When you die you know precisely where you are, and you are aware of the different levels of ideals in spirit world. You may be aware that a noble dream is there, but you cannot reach out for it. Your nature is fixed once you go to spirit world. The important thing is that here on earth you follow my words and pursue that noble dream and by leaps and bounds you can progress to that goal. This is your opportunity.

If you cannot fulfill the realm of love completely while on earth, you can only dwell in the realm of love which you completed. In spirit world you don't need food or money or clothes. If all you care about on earth is those things, in spirit world you have nothing to do. If you live selfishly on earth, you have no way to move about in spirit world because the spirit world cannot harmonize with you; I you will be a foreign element. All you have to do is to practice love for others on the earth, and all the doors of spirit world will open for you.

The ancestors of people who gave you money when you were fund raising recognize that you have done something good for their family tree. Fund raising is not just a way to raise money; more importantly, it is to help liberate the spirit world. People are not doing you a favor by giving a donation; you are doing them a favor. Spirit world knows the value of this and they will give you a standing ovation when you gain donations.

We have an incredible mission and I know that persecution must come to anyone who pursues this mission. I follow the same rules you do. Right now the whole country of America is trying to kick me out. It would be easy for me to accuse America, but I cannot; if I did, all the work you have done, the foundation you have made here, would be destroyed. I did not come to be received graciously by America, but to save it; so whatever mistreatment I receive, it does not change my mission. Jesus Christ did not come to be served, but to save the world, even to the point of taking up his cross. I started my mission with that motivation and I will finish it with the same thinking.

1 have never walked this road for myself. All the teachings I have given and my deeds are one. In my own life, I have proven the truth of my teachings. I have taught you about fund raising, but who has raised more funds for the American Church, you or me? For the benefit of our American movement, I have brought more money than anyone else; but the world thinks I took the money away from you to make myself rich. Have you suffered more or have I? Even if the media doesn't realize the truth, the spirit world does. All untruth will perish, but the truth will go on, spirit world will go on and I, too, will go on.

Your suffering is actually a blessing and a privilege, for through it you are liberating this earth and spirit world. When you shed tears for the world, you are shortening the time of fulfillment of God's dispensation. Every time you shed tears for others, God can pull you closer to Himself. In your one short life on earth, you can leap over 6,000 years of restoration history. God wants to love you as an individual while you are here on earth, not wait until you come to spirit world. That is the Principle. How can you have such a love relationship with God here on earth? The best and quickest way is to be someone who suffers for the sake of truth, God, and love. Maybe the entire world will misunderstand you, but God knows the truth; even if the whole world hates you, God will love you.

Your dream here on earth is unlimited; it goes beyond the horizon. You may be proud of being a member of the Unification Church for 10, 15, or even 20 years, but have you ever thought about how much you have suffered for the sake of others? How worthy are you of receiving God's love? That is the way you should evaluate yourself. Have you ever thought that you are here to liberate this world, and that you want to offer yourself to God as a sacrifice? Instead, many of you think that you have been here long enough, and you just want the Blessing to come soon.

I know how you can receive God's love; it is not by advertising what you have done. God knows what you have done, so all you have to do is volunteer to do harder work, getting your feet wet and suffering every day for the sake of God and mankind. When you give money to help someone, don't think you are giving it just to that person; history is behind you and that money is for the sake of the world, as well as spirit world. Every minute, every hour of the day I have committed myself to the cause because I know this principle. It is not out of a sense of duty, but a desire for the creation of a new, ideal world that I go this way.

Today is Tuesday; two days ago, I gave a sermon for Sunday service, and many people asked me to rest today in order to improve my health. Some of the leaders volunteered to take responsibility for a meeting at the New Yorker, but I refused their offer. December is the last month of the year, and I felt that I should give a sermon today. If I had been seeking any comfort, I would never have come to the United States. I will go all the way to the end without slowing down. If I leave America under any circumstances, I will have no regrets, for I feel I have done my absolute best for this country. God is moving me to other nations for the mission, and I will obey Him. Wherever I move, God is moving also.

Wherever I am directed by God to go, I shall create a new world. What a great life that is! To some people's eyes, I may seem to have lived a miserable life, but in the eyes of God, I have lived the most dramatic and fulfilling life. I have encountered many difficulties in my lifetime, including my own family relationships, but they have only pushed me to greater accomplishment, never distracting me from the mission. Ultimately, God took responsibility and solved the problems for me.

We are not living for ourselves or the secular world, but for God and the liberation of all mankind. Will you join with me? Then you must join with me in my philosophy, principle, and way of life, harboring the highest, noblest dream in your heart. You must not be a random daydreamer, but a Principled dreamer. The world has pointed their fingers at me throughout my life and called me a crazy dreamer; in fact, that was the nicest thing they called me! But it is interesting that my crazy dreams have become reality one by one, year by year, decade by decade, and now, after sixty years, many people in the world are

starting to believe my dream. Even heads of state are starting to listen to me, thinking I may have a solution to their problems. People in the highest places are turning to me, but you who are my followers are sometimes the ones who believe in me the least! Other people may know my strength, but they do not know where it comes from. You, however, know that it comes from true love.

Some of the scientists who attended the Science Conference in Korea this year commented that we have wonderful young people in our organization. I wonder what is so wonderful about you? You don't have the knowledge that they do, or the influence, and often your pockets are empty; but if you really follow my direction, you have a wonderful spirit and motivation to live for others. People sense this about you; it is like a beautiful fragrance coming from you and they smell it. You are different; you are not ordinary, secular people. When people look into your eyes, they sense purity and sincerity and a lack of greed or hate. The world has eyes filled with self-centeredness and hostility, but they don't see such eyes in you. Have you changed since you joined the Unification Church? You used to be rebellious and talk back to your parents, but now you have learned to accept the world's persecution and abuse with meekness and humility. Your life has been turned upside down.

When you harbor the noble, harmonizing dream of love on this earth, you will be lifted up into limitless freedom in spirit world. What thoughts come first into your mind? When the thoughts of loving others come first, the doors of spirit world open up and you can reach God. You will have the entire spirit world as your domain and you will be totally free in the universe. It won't matter where you go, for doors will automatically be opened everywhere. The more you suffer for other people here on earth, the greater will be your welcome in spirit world. The ancestors of people who benefited from you will give you a ticker-tape parade when you arrive there, and the relatives of those who mistreated you will be apologetic.

The Unification Church is not just an earthly entity, but a universal entity embracing the spirit world and physical world together. Unless we can bring liberation to both of them, unification is not possible. For this goal, we shall lay the necessary foundation in our daily lives. The home church providence operates according to this principle; you give love through sacrificial service, and every door will be opened to you. You are not dealing with simple individuals in your home church area, but with a microcosm of the whole world. When you witness to people on the street however, you are only dealing with individuals; so home church witnessing has more value.

We can only overcome community opposition through home church. You are often ready to cry over problems in your own family, but you have not shed heartbroken tears for your country or the world. You should be doing the opposite-not shedding tears for your family, but for mankind and for God. God has not been suffering because of problems in heaven, but on the earth. Your eyes should be God's eyes, and your tears should be God's tears, so you should shed tears on behalf of God. Unless you experience the depth of God's feeling in your prayers, shedding tears, that prayer is only lip service. Tears are precious. When you go out to witness, tears should roll down your face first. When you fund raise with tears, spirit world will come and help you.

What we do in the Unification Church is most important in order to fulfill our noble dream. No matter how fortunate you may be, with a beautiful family and beautiful spouse, unless you share this dream with me, you will not join with me in spirit world. Where I go, you will not go. Even if you are blessed, if you only live for the sake of your own family, you will not enter into heaven, because heaven is designed to accept only those people who live for the sake of others. Marriage itself is for the sake of God and His providence, because spirit world centers around the family foundation. It is much better for an individual to be part of a couple in fulfilling the ideal. That is why you need marriage; it is not just for your own happiness.

Why do you need children? To experience how to truly love the world. The way you love your children is the way you should love the world. The family is a microcosm of the world; it is a textbook of love, where you can learn what you need in order to go to heaven. All of this is absolutely true; the mixed-up thinking you have now will not be enough to enter heaven.

If you have not changed yourself even after I have taught you these things precisely and you appear in spirit world as you are, no one will sympathize with you. Do you understand? It is a tragedy if you fail to live up to this, after hearing it spelled out exactly. Even for birds it is most tragic to lose their mate and their family, to become isolated. When ducks fly across the broad sky, they have an order-a family and a group to which they belong. You are keeping your position as part of the whole of humanity and it is not necessary for you to speak about what position you have or what you are. You cannot say anything, because the truth is already there.

Life on earth is a precious opportunity, for here you can advance by great leaps, even across a million years. Once you have lost your physical life, there are no secular worries about food or clothing in spirit world, but only about love. If you have no capacity for love, you become a wandering spirit, trying to come back to earth to correct your deficiency, but unable to do so easily. You cannot settle anywhere. I know precisely how the spirit world works.

I heard that one brother here worries all the time about his Korean fiancée; he feels that he is completely melted in his love for her. But he should be ashamed of never being melted in the love of mankind and God; how can he be worthy to love one woman? Even now I do not give myself entirely to Mother, for I have a much greater duty to love God and mankind. The mission must come first. When you think about the love of God and mankind, your fiancée is just one little branch of that whole tree.

I am sure that after your wedding, some women will ask their husbands, "How much do you love me?" In order to satisfy their wives, the men will reply, "I love you very much." But the wives will not be satisfied and will demand, "How much is that?" If the husbands reply, "I love you more than I love God and the world," will the wives be happy? I want you to know that if Mother asked me such a question, I would never answer in that way. My entire self is consumed in loving God and mankind; then I love Mother and our children. My best answer would be, "My love for Mother is as big as Mother herself." Sometimes that answer may not be good enough for Mother, but it is the truth. It has a tremendous implication. When a mother is a universal mother, she deserves universal love. To be a mother is not easy and there are all levels of motherly love.

No matter what has happened in my life, no matter how much people have accused me, I have survived and kept going and prospered. We are marching toward the highest possible dream and that march will continue this month, this year, and beyond our lives. It is a beautiful, exciting, dramatic life we are living in pursuit of that dream. Ultimately, no one will be able to deny or refuse that dream; the entire world will be embraced by it.

We of the Unification Church are the flag bearers, the front line soldiers of that dream. The flag will continue moving forward. Even if I falter, one Reverend Moon after another will pick up the banner and continue to march forward with it. Don't you want to possess such a noble dream? Everyone is curious that I never seem to get tired, but they do not know this secret-with such a dream, how can one get tired or bored? How can you not devote every minute of the day to it? When you are marching on there will be much opposition before you, but in the dark night when you look behind you, there will be many people with lanterns, lighting the way.

I know that the sun will rise in the morning. Our new dawn is almost here. Once that new day comes, I will reminisce about the dark night when I struggled alone but never gave up the goal. That night will be a beautiful memory forever.

We have a great shining hope on the horizon. We shall embrace the sun of God's shining love and warmth, shedding tears of joy and love together. That will be a new day, a day of triumph and vindication. It will be the consummation of dispensational history and the dawn of a new civilization for heaven and earth. You are living such a dramatic life; you are a precious, historical person. You knew nothing about this until you came to the Unification Church, but this truth has transformed your life, giving you new value.

I will pass away, but Belvedere will be here for hundreds and thousands of years. People will want to come here and touch this podium in the future, sitting where their forefathers sat with me, wishing they could have been here. Unless you live up to this privilege now, how can you show your face in spirit world? You must be proud to say, "Yes, I was one of those who listened to Reverend Moon at Belvedere." Your pride shall be in the fact that no one else in the future can top your standard of obeying and loving God and True Parents and serving mankind. I want you to be ancestors with that kind of pride; I want to create such men and women out of you. If I really love you, such thinking is only natural. I don't want you to fail, but to be famous in history. I don't want to take people to spirit world who have no pride or dignity, who can be accused by the generations to come. Billions of people will be in a position to either envy-you or accuse you. I want them to envy you.

I have been told that our training programs don't have enough qualified lecturers, but I say that the few qualified ones should just lecture and lecture, even until they die, and then they shall become heroes in spirit world. The sins of any such person who died early because he was overworked lecturing would be covered by his sacrifice.

You must become men and women who have this high, noble dream. I have another dream, which I explained at the Science Conference. That is the international highway system in the Far East as a pattern to bring peace to the world. Many people think it is a crazy idea, but I have a plan of action, not just an idea, and by following the steps I outlined to you, I will fulfill it. First, I have a persistent will; second, I will overcome the difficulties; next, I will execute my plan; and finally it will be accomplished.

First Japan should construct a bridge between Japan and the Korean peninsula. Nothing is better than a beginning, so even two rails will be good for starters. With such an incredible mission ahead of me, how can I get tired?

This morning when you woke up at 3:00 to come here, you probably felt, "We just had a meeting at Belvedere two days ago. Why do we have to go back again?" But aren't you glad to be here? Do you have a dream now? How dramatic that you could drive here so early in the morning with that kind of dream in your heart. You have even forgotten about your legs being uncomfortable from sitting on the floor. Young people in particular must have a dream. When I was young I had extraordinary dreams, and I thought of the most incredible things.

We shall harbor this noble dream and march on to the end. Amen! For the sake of love, Amen!

Seeking the True Master

Sun Myung Moon
November 29, 1981
Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

In any society or organization, there is always a central point. The person who is located in that central point must feel a sense of mastery. The Korean word "chu in," which means "master," also means "principal person" or "main person."

In order for any organization to prosper, the center and the surroundings must harmonize in beautiful give and take. When we consider a school, there are the teachers in the center who are surrounded by the students; they must have harmonized give and take together for that school to be a success. Any company is the same. There are leaders, or management, as well as the workers and they must harmonize with each other.

Around what principle can there be such unity? There is a primary purpose for gathering at a school, and that is for learning. In the case of a company the purpose by which the central persons and those who surround them can harmonize is business.

When we talk about a true master, then, what should we consider in addition to the overall purpose? First of all, in order to be true, there must be eternal elements, elements which have more than just temporary value. When you speak of something that is "true," you must think about philosophical and spiritual matters. In the school, learning is important; in the company, business is important; but on top of that there must be some true meaning of their existence. There must be some spiritual quality or principle which causes them to come together, something bigger than the school or business itself.

When we talk about elementary school, we know that beyond that there is middle school, high school, the university, and beyond that there is the world. The company is not just a place where you go to work to get a salary. The company links the worker to the world, enabling him to contribute something for the sake of the nation and for the world.

What is the most important thing for you, as an individual? What is the thing you value the most? American people think about their country, right? When you are living in your country, you don't think too much about the importance of your government or your country, but once you leave the country, you feel how important they are. A person's country is very important to him.

Within our country, what is the most important thing? Our own homes. More than your school, your factory or your business, the most important thing is your home. That is because within your home the relationships with your family-your parents, brothers and sisters, wife or husband-have an eternal quality. It is not because you eat food when you get home that you value your home the most. You could go to the best restaurants and receive better food. It is the love of your parents, of your brothers and sisters that makes your home valuable.

When a person is deprived of love, it is unbearable for him. When we consider freedom and love, which is the most valuable to all of us? It is not freedom, but love. True love, even if you are in prison, fills you and makes you shine, no matter where you may be. Here in America freedom has been stressed, but there is something greater than freedom, and that is love. Love has not been stressed here, and that is a tragedy.

Let's talk about freedom a little while. Let's say that there was some master who controlled freedom. Who do you think deserves to be a master of freedom? Those people who above all want freedom want to deny the laws and regulations of society. People say, "I don't care about anything. I'm free. I want to do this, or that, and I will do it." Suppose everyone in society thought that way. What would happen? The society would fall into chaos. Therefore, freedom cannot be the highest ideal of a society.

What about knowledge? Can knowledge be given the utmost value in a society? Through knowledge a person has the power of evaluation, of comparing and judging. Often a person with knowledge will become boastful. "I have a degree so you must listen to me, obey me, serve me." Frequently in our society we see a man of inferior appearance with a little more knowledge than average, and he will try to control others with his knowledge. Under those circumstances, a true, ideal society cannot be born.

Another significant aspect of life is money. The possession of money endows a person with two opportunities-to eat better and to live better than someone else. So far money has been the tool of selfishness; people hoard money, caring for no one else but themselves. People have tried to control society for their own benefit by using money. A person who tries to control the world with his money may seem attractive at first. but soon would he revealed as a boring person.

How about power or influence? The world thinks it is very desirable. Unification Church members, you are very conscious of your title or position, aren't you? If someone tries to invade your position, you automatically feel threatened and try to defend yourself and your position. The amazing thing is that in a power structure everyone wants to climb up; no one wants to go down. People just want to climb up to the top of the ladder so that they can say, "I'm number one in the world." They become so boastful and arrogant that they say, "Since I'm number one, God, you have to bow down to me!" They even try to control God.

The principle of beauty throughout the world depends upon the turning of give and take. In that turning movement the upper position becomes the lower position, then goes around again. That's the law of nature, the law of progress. Therefore, if you seek only power to become a master, there can be no ideal there. In power, money and knowledge there is no eternal value.

Where can we find such an eternal quality today? We have to think about love. If you can fully possess true love, or tap into true love, then whether or not you have power, money or knowledge makes very little difference. When you consider your own country, the most supreme feeling in a true man is patriotism, or love for his country. When you consider your home, your family, it is the true love relationships that are most important. But I want you to understand that love does not exist independently, or all by itself. Love must have two poles, that of subject and object, entering into give and take relationship. When you go to your home, what is the center of love there? The parents. The goal of the family, then, is the relationship of true love between parents and children.

Suppose at home your father and mother are always criticizing one another, saying such things as, "Don't be like your mother." You would feel very uncomfortable and have some pain in your heart. "Why should they be like that?" you would wonder. You would evaluate your father and mother and see that, although your father criticizes your mother, she is a much better quality person than he is. Children can immediately detect when parents are fighting for selfish reasons.

Suppose the children hear their parents saying, "Your mother is a great woman," or "Your father is a great man." How would they feel? The parents would be showing that there is no need to command each other, but setting an example of love by serving each other and lifting one another up. Children would automatically have pride in their hearts, thinking, "My Daddy and Mommy are the best in the world." In this situation, the children would be completely embraced in their parents' love.

Children are very sensitive. They can see when their father and mother keep their own separate checkbooks and are always fighting over money. True love can go beyond all these material, earthly things.

Suppose there is a father who is very well educated and a mother who came from a rural home and is not educated at all. Does the father have a right to act like a tyrant, treating his own wife like a servant or the secretary of his company? No. No matter how many college degrees the father has, when he comes to his home he is a member of the family. The supreme rule of the family is the rule of love, not power. That rule also applies to the brothers and sisters as well as parents. If some brother is trying to rule over the others by the power of his fists, no one will like him. Only by serving and loving the others can that brother become popular.

When we talk about the national government, the same rule applies. Between the leaders of a nation and those who are governed there must be a relationship of love. The democratic system in this country brings about changes from time to time. First the Democratic Party governs, then the Republican Party takes over. Even the Communist Party could govern if its candidates were elected. Is this sort of switching around an extension of the ideal family, or not? What happens is that when the Democratic party gains control, the Republican Party fights against the Democrats. And the communists, or course, fight against both of them. Under such circumstances, how can you talk about an ideal society? Where is the love relationship?

We are certainly not living in a completely ideal society. We all want to live in an ideal society, but in reality we are living in a chaotic, confused, fallen society. This is our problem. How can we bring all this confusion under control? Could we make things better if we had the absolute power of tyranny? That's what the communists have tried to do. They try to rule with an iron fist, and they seem to succeed, at first. They have conquered nations and taken over governments, but eventually the communists will fall.

For the past three years Soviet Russia has suffered a great drought. Certainly the heads of state don't want that drought to occur. They might cry out with clenched fists, "We have the power in this country! Give us rain!" But that is not the way nature operates. God has judged them by holding back the rain for three years. Even if you have enough power to make the nation tremble, you cannot bring about the ideal society. Likewise, knowledge alone cannot bring the solution. Money is not the way, either.

The ultimate tool by which to bring about the ideal society is love, true love. What is this true love? If we say God-centered love, what exactly do we mean? The best definition was given by Jesus: True, God-centered love is that which is capable of loving even an enemy. If white people love other white people, there's nothing special about that. When white people love black people, though, that is true love. But the ultimate love is that of loving our enemy. That is the ultimate love because no one can criticize or condemn such love. It is invincible love, love which is always there, without contradiction, always smoothly flowing. That kind of love makes you feel good, no matter whether it comes in your eye or ear or mouth, or anywhere.

Professor Young Oon Kim, of our seminary, once told me, "When I made up my mind to love my enemies and forgive everyone who ever hurt me in my life, I felt such peace in my mind. Nothing bothers me and I have no grudges anymore."

Why should she feel such peace? Because she is free to go everywhere. For her there is no obstacle anywhere. Those who can unconditionally love everyone, including their enemies, must command the respect of others, whether they are black, white or yellow. This would be true in the past, in the present, and on into the future, even a million years from now. So this must be a universal truth.

Let's talk about the saints. What was the common goal of Jesus, Confucius and Mohammed? Throughout their lives they talked about loving the world, loving mankind. For them, national boundaries meant very little. They transcended such boundaries as customs, traditions, cultures. American people today, however, simply cannot go beyond their own culture and habits. As Americans you eat cheese, bread and butter. Korean people also have their own habits. They eat kimchee and hot pepper sauce, and they cannot go beyond that. There is a tremendous power to such habits and it is very difficult to go beyond these cultural boundaries. But the person who would become an international man must go beyond his national boundaries, even if he receives persecution and hardship.

I am always looking at the Unification Church missionaries. When these Germans, Japanese and Americans come home, I am watching to see how many of them try to avoid going back to their mission countries. Suppose there is a person who comes back from his overseas mission and says, "Oh Father, I have had enough. Let me stay at home in my own country." That would be the response of an average person, not the extraordinary person, not the saint. But the amazing thing is that so far our Unification missionaries, even though they suffer and are persecuted in their mission, almost always tell me, "I want to go back." What great brothers and sisters we have in the Unification Church!

Saints, then are those who go beyond their national and cultural boundaries, and try to love and give life to the whole world and all of mankind. It is not an easy way of life. How do we know it is not easy? There have been many billions of people who have lived on the earth, but we can talk about only four great saints. This proves how difficult it is to live the standard of a saint.

What are the qualities of a saint? A saint loves all of mankind as his own family, his own country. This standard never changes throughout history. How many people have lived and practiced such a way of life? How many saints are there in America? Wherever you travel in the world there are anti-American movements. Americans are hated and are even expelled from many places in the world. Why? Because Americans have not been living according to this principle. Instead they have been trying to benefit themselves at the expense of the world. They have not tried to help or serve any country except the United States.

Many times Americans do not try to teach their technology to other countries but just keep it to themselves as a secret. But people with true love would see that this is not the right kind of ethical practice. This kind of standard has to be criticized and condemned in the name of justice. True love must go in the opposite direction.

America, for example. has given foreign aid to certain countries. Instead of expecting a return on that money, as though it were an investment, America ought to give that money and forget it. She should let the money work for the good of the local inhabitants. What if parents kept a record of how much money they spent on each child, saying, "Last year I spent $5,000 on you, so you owe me $5,000. For the last 30 years, you owe me $45,000." Is that the parental way? Of course not. Parents do everything unconditionally for the children, and forget what they have done.

That way of giving is the central theme of an ideal society; it can also be called the backbone of the ideal society. Those Americans who joined the Unification Church are different from the rest of the country, for you have transcended the national boundary. I want to see you become men and women who can go beyond your country and love mankind everywhere as much as you love the people of your own country-in fact, even more than you love your own country. That is the Unification goal.

We are talking about the True Master this morning. The true masters of the world today are those people who practice true love on a worldwide scale, living each day by that principle.

A loving parent who knows his child needs money for school tuition would not tell his child, "I don't want to use any of my savings account, so you can just forget school. Go to a gas station and work." We apply the same principle on the worldwide scale: we must invest ourselves and our actions for the sake of the world. Those of you in the Unification Church-who are you and why are you here? When a person loves his own son, he will help and serve that son for ten years and never get tired or bored with serving that son. Consider yourself-for three years, perhaps, you have been a Moonie and already you feel like an old-timer who is ready to retire. If you look tired and spiritless, the reason is that your central purpose is not clear to you.

If you loved the world with a parental heart then you could not feel tired or fatigued. If you want to become a true master of the world, you simply cannot feel tired just by working here in the United States, you still must go beyond the boundary of America. Perhaps you will become a bit tired now and then, but there is no time to get discouraged when you are striving to become a true master on the worldwide level. How can you ever become a true master of the world if you say, "Well, after three years I'm just totally exhausted and burned out"? When your spirit is burning bright with the zeal of true love, you can go on every day for the rest of eternity and no power under the sun can deter you or discourage you.

Why do I have to come to America, a country which does not even give me a decent welcome? I could say, "Forget it. I don't want to bother with the United States." But that is not my way of life. The more this country comes against me, the more I will work to melt the opposition with an intense love. Even the communists are trying to kill me, but I am trying to warm them up with my love and ultimately restore them. That is my philosophy and it is one which will go on without diminishing for all eternity.

Why do you feel lonely when I am away? Here you have all you need to eat; you have your friends and your homeland. Why should you miss a Korean man when he is not with you? Something is vacant in your heart when I am away. For some reason you feel a certain peace and satisfaction in your heart when I return. Why is that? Because we share love-the love of God is what creates our relationship. Why did you come here so early in the morning when it's cold and dark? The cold and darkness don't matter to you; something urges you to come here. This is evidence of the power and energy of love.

My entire life has been one of persecution and mistreatment. Yet you see that I am not tired. I keep moving, step by step, leaving footprints as I go. When I turn around I can taste a precious joy at seeing them behind me. Up ahead there is nothing but persecution coming at me, like a head wind pushing me. But when I turn around and look behind at my own territory I can feel great exaltation, for there I see people from all races following me. I see peace, harmony and unity when I look back at my own territory. That is so beautiful and valuable to me that then I can turn around and move ahead even more strongly.

Only on the road of love can this happen. If I had been seeking power for myself, no one would have followed me. If my goal had been to make money or to accumulate knowledge, I don't think people would enjoy following me at all. No matter how much persecution came to me along this path, I never felt alone or discouraged because when I would look behind me, there was a Love Race growing and growing.

Consider the Japanese people and the Korean people. They were enemies for quite a long time. But today, the Japanese members are pledging their service and loyalty to me, more than anyone else in the world. They are willing to give their lives for this cause. Isn't that amazing? They are not pledging their lives for the sake of Reverend Moon; not at all. They are pledging their lives for the sake of the true love which I pioneered and championed. In this way, the enemy nation of Japan has become a territory of love.

Many Japanese members who have come to America have been the most sacrificial. Some Japanese members are getting old, and haven't had children yet, or they have several children without any material foundation for their lives. I am waiting for them to come to me and say, "Father, I have done my time here in America. Please let me go home to my country and retire." But not even a single one of them has come to me with that request.

We are really a great movement! It is not the truth we are teaching that is the greatest thing, but the power of love which permeates the truth-that is the great, eternal thing. That is why this movement can go beyond territorial boundaries and can conquer our enemies by the power or love.

How many people or organizations in our world are pursuing such a great goal and living such a great way of life? Only you, the Unification Church members, are in that category. But is it true that you are only worrying about your fiancé at this time? What about the world? You should feel that even if your marriage is delayed, the salvation of the world should come first. Do you feel that your marriage must come before everything else?

God has much greater problems than your own marriage. From the viewpoint of God, how small is the problem of your marriage compared to the problems of the whole world! Of course, your marriage is an important thing, but compared to the other, incredible problems of God it is of lesser importance. Suppose that, right now, your one great hope in life is to get married to your fiancé and make a home together, and tomorrow it happened. Then all of a sudden you would discover that marriage is not as rosy as you expected! Your hope would vanish because it was based only upon your marriage.

By contrast, the man who lives completely for the sake of the world and mankind can have no failure in his marriage. For that person, marriage is a part of loving the world. No matter who the fiancé is, that marriage is bound to be successful, for together the two pursue the same goal and are absolutely assured of a successful marriage. We must say, "I marry, not for myself alone, but for the sake of God. I want to love God and mankind more. All by myself, I cannot do that well, so I need my eternal comrade." That is a beautiful concept of marriage. You assist each other in loving God more, discussing together the ways to accomplish your goal. What a beautiful couple!

No matter what, we must seek the true master. Who is the true master? He is the man who has the greatest true love of all and practices that extraordinary love. We seek such a true master, but where can we find him? Only God has such a character. In true love, you look at this world from God's point of view, you listen to the world with His ears; through His senses you receive the world. God's love is historical, for He loved from the beginning, through all the past and present and on into the future. God is the Creator, so when He looks at the world He sees history. He knows how He created the world and He loves every aspect of His creation. He loves the processes, not just the results.

Heavenly Father created the universe with a motivation of utmost love, so He always had that beautiful memory. Even though man fell, God has a dream and a goal for mankind. When He sees fallen mankind so far below that goal, He does not condemn. Instead, He feels mercy for mankind and tries to bring them back to the original state.

Every man has an original mind which is pursuing that highest goal of eternal love. Eternal love can own everything, embrace everything, and harmonize everything. Spirit world is already practicing that principle. God dwells wherever true love is the center, where everything and everyone are trying to harmonize with true love.

Once you find the true master, can you change masters or move out? The true master is the subject and we are the objects. The philosophy of the true master and his way of life become our philosophy and way of life. Thus, the relationship between the true subject and object will continue for eternity. The true master with true love will not just be concerned with himself, but with the entire world. His goal has always been to bring the entire world into harmonious unity.

Although we are working only in a limited geographical location such as New York' our impact is universal because what we do is for the sake of the world. The work you do in New York is not only for the sake of New York; it is also for the sake of God and all mankind. Even though you live in just one place, if the things you do please our True Master up in heaven, then you are pleasing the entire world. We must find the True Master and serve Him for our whole lives. Our relationship with Him should be an eternal one.

Many people think, "Father is too idealistic! He talks about ideals, but it is not really practical here in America. It won't work." But wait until you die; then you will find that it is very real, but by then it will be too late. You have to discover the truth now, while you are here on earth. Whatever you harvest here will establish your standard of living in the spirit world. Here on earth is the place where you must practice and learn the capability to live in spirit world. The life of one man is very short compared to eternity, so we have no time to waste in finding our true master. What a pity it is that so many people waste their time on the earth! During this short time on earth, we have to consummate our road in life. Each day is so precious it is like a thousand years.

For a student, the moment of greatest seriousness is exam time. Our life, when compared to eternity, is more serious than that exam period. To God, your life is very short, so it is very easy to rate which kind of life you have lived. In each action there is the potential for good or for evil. When you go to sleep, it can be for good or for evil. Your laughter can be good or evil. The true leader is always trying to push you toward the good and sunny side.

What is good? What is evil? Goodness is something that is good for everyone. Evil is something that hurts everyone else but benefits only you. If you were to spread this message of self-serving all over the earth. do you think that would bring about the ideal world? Of course not. Therefore, you must teach people that they are existing for the sake of others; you must teach them to live a sacrificial life for the sake of others, serving mankind and loving the world. That is the only way.

The most important aspect is our attitude. Even though you are working every day to serve others, if you are grumbling inside and resenting your situation, you cannot win. You must do what you do with gratitude. Life in the Unification Church is focused on this process of molding men through unselfishness. This is why in Unification Church you are called upon to do things that you do not want to do. Especially if you strongly dislike doing one certain thing, that will be what you do! If you only did the things you enjoyed doing, do you think the world would improve?

We have to do such things as fundraising on MFT, but your own pockets are always empty. Many people think the money goes into my pockets, but when I pull them out, they are always empty. Where is the money going? To projects for the sake of the world. This process is not going to be ended with my lifetime. You will receive the torch and pass it on to future generations.

You are insignificant people, but you are earning money and then spending it for the sake of the entire world. In this way, your small role in the world has become an important one. You are suffering much tribulation by going this way, but the amazing thing is that the entire world is coming around to our side. This year's Science Conference was the tenth. I delivered my Founder's Address to an audience of 4,000. At the close of the Conference the scientists adopted a resolution with these points: 1) thanking me for the conference; 2) committing themselves to the cause; 3) supporting my peace formula.

This kind of support did not come about overnight. It took ten years to do it. Suppose after three years' time I had given up on the Science Conference. Five years ago, when I took a poll of our leaders, most said, "I'm not sure about it. It seems to be a waste of money." I want you to know that you must persevere. Results take time. You never knew that those few dollars you earned on MFT could give such mileage! Do you think money by itself could move the entire world? Impossible.

Sometimes people wonder how the Japanese can be so clever. The Japanese people are no inventors- they just imitate. They take apart a sample of something and then come up with something a little better. That's not such an honorable talent, yet God has blessed that country with great prosperity. Why is that? Along with the prosperity of Japan goes the success of our family members working there: when the economy is healthy, the members can bring great result which goes for God's purpose. The Japanese members are doing their very best, so God has to bless the entire country!

God gave an emergency mobilization order to the entire spirit world, so now spirit men are working every day in Japan. Customers come into our stores, and often they feel they can't leave until they buy something. That is because of spirit world. Because the Japanese members are dedicating themselves unselfishly, the economic blessings of the entire world will come to be concentrated upon Japan.

Suppose you Americans should say, "We don't want to fundraise." What would happen? Then all of America's wealth would be moved to Japan. Do you think the wealth here in America belongs to this country? No! It is God's money. If God needs it somewhere else, He has a right to move it. It is an amazing thing that the little island of Japan has so much power. No one could have ever imagined such a thing. Look at the high-technology products that are coming out of Japan. Spirit world is pouring brilliant ideas upon that country, and the Japanese are learning not only to make things better but also cheaper.

What we are talking about this morning is seeking after our True Master and actually occupying the heart of God. True love is our way to kidnap God. Do you think God will get very angry at being occupied by our true love? If someone kidnaps you with true love, you feel good, so what greater ambition could you have than to occupy God? Occupying the whole world is nothing compared with occupying God. If you want to receive love from the greatest, most extraordinary master, you should be able to love him and serve him in everything he does. If he does 100 different things, you should be able to know and serve him in those 100 different ways. Then your master will see how valuable you are.

Our true master, God, is almighty. He has been doing many, many things throughout history, so to be accepted by that almighty master isn't going to be easy. You will have to meet a high standard. There is only one method to deal with that almighty Master- true love. Neither power, money, nor knowledge could be the way. In order for God to love mankind, there must be a bridge or a ladder by which the link can be made, step by step. Someone has to create that bridge between God and man. The Unification Church is like an engineer corps which is creating that bridge. We become a human bridge between God and man so that God can come down to humanity. The dwelling of God will be with man when God can walk out to mankind on the bridge of true love. That is how you must think of yourselves.

You might think that your goal will be to do your best for ten or twenty years, and then you will retire. You might say, "I gave my youth in service to God, so now I want to do something else." But is that good enough? Absolutely not. We have not only a lifetime job, but a job for generations. When we die, our children will take over our position and continue our work. Am I leaving the American youth with some tradition? You are mastering your way of thinking. You are trying to become responsible for this country. You are learning to think, "Without me, this country has no hope! I must play a central role by sacrificing myself for the sake of this country." This is where you have been changed-in your attitudes.

Our goal is to save America and ultimately the world. The United States is the principal country in the world, so once we transform America into a heavenly country, changing the rest of the world would be easy. That is God's strategy. The ideology and way of life we have adopted is not a bad one-it is the one which God likes and God supports us in this undertaking. You must have confidence in that! Ultimately, it is only a matter of time until this way of thinking shall conquer the world. Then the world will rejoice in exuberance. From this way of thinking true peace and the true ideal shall emerge on the earth.

We are moving every day along this way of true love. Nothing is more precious than this. What is Home Church all about? It is giving you the method and the territorial boundary within which you can practice the way of true love. Home church is your arena where true love begins. I'm sure many of your parents oppose your membership in the Church, but their ancestors in spirit world are all on your side. Your children, grandchildren, and all your descendants will praise you. You need a base where you can create your own territory-this is what Home Church is all about.

True love is the target you are shooting at through doing Home Church. Home church is like the gun and the goal is true love. Have you ever truly thought that the number of times you served people in your Home Church area was the number of times God visited that area? You must think about how much God is present with you, walking with you. God is not dwelling with you when you are Lying comfortably in bed with a full stomach. The time when you are very hungry and fatigued is when God is with you. Sometimes you may be sick to your stomach and you feel you cannot go out. But knowing that your Home Church members are waiting for you, you don't want to disappoint them and you walk out the door, almost falling down. That is the time when God is with you.

You must realize how much God is working in your Home Church. Have you thought about that? Do you have confidence that in your activities True Parents are with you? Do you think, "I'm sure they love me, and God is with me because I am not ashamed of what I am doing. I am proud of it, and God must be proud, too." If you have that confidence, I am sure your Home Church people will love you without any question. If you do not go there one day, people will ask, "Why didn't our Moonie show up today?" They will ask their neighbors, "Do you know what happened to that Moonie?" They won't want to be separated from you. Without fail, this will happen when you practice this way of life.

When you go out to Home Church, always think that you are escorting God and True Parents to your Home Church area as your guests. When God walks down the most miserable alley of your Home Church, what will He think? God's eyes will flood with compassionate tears. How many thousands and thousands of years have passed before Home Church could emerge? I have spent my entire life in creating Home Church. The Home Church system is set up to bring all of mankind into brotherhood. As mankind becomes one brotherhood then the dwelling of parents become a reality. Think about that fact when you have your Home Church; there mankind and the Parents and God are dwelling in one brotherhood. How happy, ho wonderful! That is the consummation of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

When God goes back to spirit world, you can go there with Him. You must have a close relationship with God, like a wife following her husband. Then God can never leave you. This is the special pride of the Unification Church which no one else has. We have sought the True Master and we have found the True Master, and we have a practical method of haven the True Master dwell with us-Home Church.

How much have you devoted yourself? One yea,r two years, ten years, twenty years? By doing so, you attract the attention of God, and He has to look at you and come down to you. True love is the major them' by which you connect one woman, one man, one family, two families, a hundred families, 360 families When one new person is linked, you rejoice over his birth as the new true child of God. What a joy it is to see the emergence of a new child of God. With this in mind, how can you neglect to go out every day and night? When this movement of love is spreading out to the worldwide level, the Kingdom of God is bound to appear.

When true love is at the center of life, all directions are connected and there is communication on every level, including spirit world. When you are really longing after God, showing your respect and love toward Him, then the spirit world will open up in front of your eyes. True love cannot exist with just one person, but has to be reciprocal between a subject and object. Those who practice such true love will be followed by God. You will not have to follow God; He will come and follow you! He has to come to the spirit burning in your heart. You will be intoxicated by dwelling in the world of love.

When you look out at the world and mankind from this standpoint, everything changes. There is no way you can be lonely. Every creature and everything you see is a work of art to rejoice with. Ultimately, that is the only real purpose of life which men should pursue.

Shall we go toward that goal? Let us pray.

The Creation of a New World

Sun Myung Moon
November 13, 1981
Tenth ICUS Founder's Address

Honorable Chairman and Committee Chairmen, distinguished professors, and ladies and gentlemen, I am deeply grateful that you have come to Korea to attend the Tenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences.

Korea is my native country. Here in Korea you may find reminders of the sacrifices made by the 16 nations that participated in the Korean War. As Korea is divided into North and South, it is a sorrowful country, but nevertheless it is a country of great significance. I sincerely hope that you will take a deep look at Korea and Asia and come to understand them well.

I also hope that the contents of the speech I am about to give will be understood in a profound religious context and not in a political context.

Unity Between The Upper And Lower Classes Of Society

There are many confrontations and struggles in society today. Confrontations exist between what might be called the upper and lower classes of races, nations and societies, but the most serious problem of all is the confrontation between the upper and lower classes formed by the difference between wealth and poverty.

The population in the northern hemisphere centers mostly on the white people and is estimated at about 800 million. This group may be considered the upper class of the world. On the other hand, in China, India and other Asian nations, there are 3 billion people who form a middle class. Finally, centering on the black and brown people, the 500 million of Africa, Central and South America and Oceania form an economically poor, or lower class. This difference in wealth presents a most serious problem in today's world, and it is repeatedly dealt with as the so-called North-South problem by a number of international organizations, including the United Nations.

All the important issues of the twentieth century must be solved on a worldwide scale. The most likely way to solve this problem is to unite the upper and lower classes through the Asians, who are between the white Euro-American societies and the black African societies. In this aspect, the greatest challenge is how to motivate the people of the upper class to lower their status of their own will.

Since the beginning of history, man has sought to diminish this gap between the upper and lower classes. Communism is the strongest example of this trend. The ideal of communism is to eliminate exploitation between the classes and to construct a society without classes. However, the biggest problem with communism is its atheism, in other words, that it seeks to create an ideal world upon a foundation which denies God. A further problem with communism is that in practice, all things are carried out according to the private will of a few dictators.

To overcome these problems and to find a new solution, we must go beyond the humanism to which we have been clinging to tightly. The unity we seek requires a new Godism and a new nucleus.

The only medium which can enable the upper and lower classes to unite is religion. This was religion's original purpose -- the salvation of the world, not just the salvation of individuals or families. To accomplish the task of uniting the upper, middle and lower classes requires a new religion, one which can serve as a nucleus for unity.

Then what is the Unification Church? It is the new religion destined to carry out this historic mission. I have been pioneering the path towards that goal, and it is inevitable that people of all racks will want to meet me in that path.

The Position Of The Korean Peninsula From The Standpoint Of Civilization

The globe on which we live is divided into land and ocean. If we look at peninsulas geographically, we can see that they connect land and ocean. Accordingly, since ancient times, peninsulas have always been significant sites for the formation of civilizations. The ancient civilizations of both Greece and Rome, as well as those of Spain and Portugal, began and flourished on peninsulas. But today, a new worldwide civilization, combining the civilizations of the East and the West, must emerge. In Asia, it is on the Korean peninsula where this is happening.

World civilization has developed as it has moved around the globe. The continental Egyptian civilization was passed on to the Greek and Roman peninsulas and then to the island civilization of England, and eventually the continental American civilization. From there it continued westward across the Pacific, to the island civilization of Japan, from which it has extended to Asia, concentrating on an emerging Korean peninsular civilization. The civilization focused here in Korea is one of a high dimension, and it will play a central role in creating a new world.

Japan, an island country, was the first to allow Western civilization to establish itself in Asia. The next age will be that of a peninsular civilization, focused on the Korean peninsula, where the Eastern and Western civilizations are merging.

As the historian Spengler pointed out, civilization, like the four seasons of a year, goes through cycles of rising and falling. Today, the age of the Atlantic civilization is passing and the age of the Pacific civilization is emerging.

If we look at the situation around Korea, we see that Korea is located between the four great powers of the United States, Japan, China and the Soviet Union. The United States is currently expending great effort to counter the expansionist Soviet Union. In Europe, the Soviet Union occupies half of a divided Germany, and in Asia, it split Korea into north and south, keeping the north within its sphere of control.

It is primarily in Asia, centering on Korea, and not in Europe, that these four great powers are confronting one another. Because of this, America is obliged to pay attention to Asia, a continent greater than Europe. Considering this situation, Korea is a country which in all areas will play a basic role in determining the destiny of the confrontations between East and West and between North and South.

At this point, let us take a look at the practical possibility of this occurring. Koreans have a strong sense of justice and are quite religious by nature. They display their capabilities in many different fields. If they reach a deadlock in any situation, they cope with it and, if necessary, change directions in a bold and courageous way, showing much adaptability. These are some of the outstanding traits of Koreans.

I was born among these Koreans, and the Unification Church has developed from such a background. We of the Unification Church believe that as the fruit of such a history, we are to accomplish the worldwide mission of bringing the upper and the lower classes closer together centering upon the yellow people.

The Unification Church has sufficient religious content to fully accomplish this purpose. To this end I am determined to do my best in all fields of endeavor and in all regions of the world.

God's Love -- The Absolute Value

To bring unity between the people of the upper and lower classes, we must encourage those of the upper class to unite with those of the lower class and elevate the latter to the level of the former. In order to accomplish that, a central point of absolute value is needed. That central point is God's love. Then what is God's love like? God's love can dwell with both those of the upper class and the lower class. God's love is never one- directional. It is a force which moves in a spherical manner, capable of revolving freely from the highest point to the lowest. Wherever God's love appears, it is welcomed by all people everywhere, and it creates harmony in all places at all times.

God's love always possesses absolute value whenever and wherever it may be. If we have God's love, we are happy; we feel fulfilled and secure. Though one may be in a low position, he can still love those who are on top, and those in top positions can love those in the lowest positions. In this way, God's love is infinitely free. The people who have His love receive a great welcome wherever they may go. This is the reason why people willingly and wholeheartedly follow Unification Church members wherever they may be.

The Unification Church has sought salvation in God's love. As soon as people come to realize that the new thought which the Unification Movement is introducing is far more outstanding than that of either communism or capitalism, and that the Kingdom of Heaven on earth will be made a reality by the love of God, all people will be only too happy to accept it.

If one is to truly comprehend the situation of the world today, one must understand the situation of Korea, where God has a special will, and that within Korea everything exists in a condensed form. For example, the two main trends of contemporary thought, democracy and communism, exist in Korea, as well as the four major religions, Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam, developed to a high degree. As I said earlier, the four greatest nations of the world are confronting each other here in Korea. Thus everything exists, at least symbolically, within Korea. In God's dispensation, Korea is responsible to bring all these aspects into unity.

In conclusion, Korea has to accomplish four great tasks, centering on the Unification Movement. They are:

1. Unity of religions through an ecumenical movement;

2. Unity of thought, by overcoming materialistic communism through a "Victory over Communism" movement;

3. Unity of culture by establishing a new lifestyle combining the cultures of the East and the West; and

4. Unity of economy through a new ideology.

With God's love as the absolute value, we of the Unification Movement will love all the people of the world even more than our own parents and brothers and sisters, form the unified world, and realize the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. With this, the creation of the new world which God and man have been longing for will be complete. Only with God's love can there be true and lasting victory, peace and happiness.

The Future Of Asia Centering On Korea

Korea is capable of bringing about unity in the four areas mentioned above, through the Unification Movement. Of them, the first three are already nearing completion, and we are now trying to accomplish the fourth and last point, the economic problem.

Korea is developing economically at a rapid pace. However, it still cannot be said that it has reached an advanced international level. Then how can this be achieved? To accomplish this goal is also the mission of our Unification Movement. For this purpose, I intend to initiate cooperation between Germany's high standard of mechanical technology and the industry of Korea. Spiritually, Korea and the Unification Movement have already successfully linked Japan and the United States. The United States and Europe are already linked culturally.

God has especially blessed and helped Germany and Japan to recover economically after World War II in order to accomplish the dispensation. In particular, Japan has become a gigantic economic power. Even Germany has come to feel threatened by the economic success of Japan. The only way for Germany to protect itself is to join with Korea and produce superior quality goods at reduced cost and market them in Japan and other places. Likewise, it should allow the Third World to participate in equal profit-sharing. Then, if Japan is included, the road of world economic unity will be opened.

Korea could further link the highest technology to the Third World, eventually leading to world peace. These countries will realize that it is mutually profitable for all of them to join with Korea as a mediator. In the hope of modernizing in the fastest way, China wishes to maintain friendly relations with Japan, the United States and Germany. The three Asian countries could form an economic alliance, with the United States and Germany connected to them at the same time. In this sense, Korea is becoming a new base for an East-West civilization, and it is emerging as the canter of the Pacific civilization.

My Proposal

As a conclusion, I would like to make a proposal. It is to construct a "Great Asian Highway" zone which would run through China, Korea and Japan, and then eventually link the world by constructing a "Great Free World Highway" zone to connect the whole world. This would be a great international highway around which freedom is guaranteed, and it would go through mainland China, crossing the Korean peninsula from nor (h to south, through an underwater tunnel or bridge to Japan, and moving north through the various Japanese islands.

If this highway were constructed, the three Asian countries would be linked through the highway and become one. The economic and cultural exchange between them would be so frequent that it would enable them to form an Asian Common Community.

If this plan is carried out according to the framework suggested here, free traffic would become possible among all the people of the Asian countries and as a result, r\ ..rth Korea would have to give up its ambition of aggression through military means. It would be forced to choose peaceful ways of unification.

Thus, by uniting the Asians, it would eventually become possible to connect the upper and lower classes of the world, with the yellow peoples serving as mediator.

In order to concretely realize such an ideal, the Korean residents now living in Japan, the United States and China could be connected to form a technological group. Then automatically, the direction of Japan and the United States would also come into accord. Based on this new economic foundation, a highway which guarantees freedom could extend worldwide.

Thus, through completing the unrestricted Asian highway and realizing the long-cherished ideal of joining the upper and lower classes, a great migration of the yellow peoples will take place. With Asia as its starting point, a realistic unified economic sphere can be established, connecting the East and West in a new civilization. This will result in peace and a new world, centering on God's love, which is the absolute value.

In this transitional age of civilization, when Western civilization joins that of the East, meeting in a new Pacific civilization, I sincerely hope that all of you distinguished participants coming from more than 100 countries to this memorable International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences in Korea, will have deep insight into these matters and offer your concrete cooperation.

Thank you very much.

Parental Heart

Sun Myung Moon
Compiled November 1981

When the loyal members of the Unification Church get blessed, they will have incredible children who will be the future leaders of the world. The greatness of the children will be determined by the intensity of the parents' heart towards God.

Looking at my own children, I can see that the younger children are superior. After 17 days, Kwon Jin was smiling and responding to emotion. Within three months he responded to music and would call for it; when the music began he would immediately stop crying. Then when the music stopped, he began to make music himself. Now less than two years old, he is singing songs in Korean and English. When I look at him, I have to be humble before God, saying, "God, thank You. You do love me." Because such blessing comes from God through these children, I do not feel that nine are enough. I think, "God, do You have more blessings to give me? I will gladly accept them: 10? 11? 12?" Through my direct family and through the family of the Unification Church, God wants to expand the territory of salvation to reach out to every corner of the earth.

Whenever I can spare a little bit of time at home, then I play with the children: but unfortunately, I do not have much time for that. God has to understand that, and also the children. I have had a dual mission all these years: one has been to build the spiritual foundation of the Unification Church and get the message out to the world, but my internal mission is to build my own home and the central point of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth -- that is, to find Mother and nurture our children to make a perfect family, as a model of the Kingdom of God. Now I want to build the tradition of God's home.

When I hear the children complain about my being away, I take it as grace, as God telling them to tell me that my service is not good enough.

Amazing things are happening in my family. The children's spiritual senses are open, so they sometimes see a spirit man or hear spiritual sounds. One of them told me, "I was playing the piano, and there was a very noble man in a white gown standing just behind me and benevolently watching over my shoulder."

Hyo Jin is at a very active age. He loves music and riding horses, and so forth, but he also enjoys quiet moments. He has a wild side, but he also has a quiet and sentimental side; at 2:00 one morning, all of a sudden he got up and began to play the flute in his room. Later he told me about hearing heavenly music.

In our home there is a complete mixture of the spiritual side of life and the physical side of life, merging into one. The children are receiving important things in dreams, particularly visions of each member of the family in the future. They are telling each other, "I saw you in a dream, and you appeared this way." Parents should put these experiences together, organizing and analyzing them in a beneficial way. 4-17-77

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The parents' role is to educate the children and give them guidance. If the parents fight with each other, then they cannot teach their children by example. My own children sometimes fight, but Mother and I should be able to say, "You children should stop fighting. Look at your father and mother." The first step towards unity between parents and children and among children is for the father and mother to become one with each other. Then children grow to realize that fighting cannot bring any goodness. Sometimes I see my children fighting very severely, and one of them either gets knocked down or his nose starts bleeding. Then they automatically come to Mother and me crying, "Daddy. Mommy, look what happened to me. I'm sorry we fought. We'll never fight again."

It is a wise child who will say, "Father, my brother didn't behave too well. Will you give me permission to fight?" If they want to get permission from me, then I tell them, "My son, my daughter, let me tell you about something better than fighting: go and love them instead." I see in that child a greater capacity for love, and the future of that particular child is much more solid. 6-17-77

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Hyo Jin has a very adventurous character. When he rides a motorcycle, he doesn't do it in an ordinary way, but rides on rugged roads and does difficult stunts. Even as a boy, once he was determined to do something, he just hung on until it was finished. He is just like I was in my younger days. When I was young, I came home many times so completely tired out that I almost collapsed at the door. Hyo Jin is doing the same thing now. 6-5-77

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I was fascinated one day watching Kook Jin and Heung Jin playing with a whole company of toy soldiers. They had a mock war under way and were so absorbed with their game that they never noticed time passing. I wished that I could play like that, and now maybe sometime I will. If all of you work like I have and bear the burden, then I will be relieved and be able to play like the children. 4-6-80

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Yesterday Sun Jin drew a pretty picture and asked me to look at it. The person in the picture was missing one eye, the nose was crooked and the face looked ugly, but as far as she was concerned, it was a masterpiece, and she was proud. She gave her whole heart in creating it, and she wanted it to be recognized by her daddy. It was a manifestation of her love. From God's point of view, your Home Church is like Sun Jin's drawing, with one eye missing and a crooked nose, but if you have given your love there and done your best, it is beautiful. 5-18-80

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Whenever we expect a new baby, I can almost see his face and describe his character and disposition; I fancy this baby to be better than the ones I already have. It proves to be true, and after his birth I find all those characteristics in the baby. This happens not only as a result of my prayers, but also when I welcome difficulties in place of blessings. Then without a doubt, blessings come. So blessings will come to you in proportion to what you experience and overcome. 5-30-74

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When you give birth to children, they will be born with heavenly fortune. They will be excellent and prosperous, in proportion to your loyalty to the True Parents and the will of God. If the husband and wife together pray hard and mobilize their every cell toward the realization of the will of God, then they may be sure that they will give birth to very wonderful children in the lineage of God.

The blessing is something like a reservoir of water, and you are creating the channels that will lead the water into your lineage. How much water will reach them depends solely on what you do from now on.

The width or depth of the channel of water flowing to your lineage will depend on your efforts throughout your life. If your couple is self-centered -- the wife thinking only of her husband or the husband thinking only of his wife -- then you will not have dug enough of a channel to lead water to your lineage. Then you will be vulnerable to accusation from both your ancestors and descendants throughout eternity. You will receive even more accusation than the fallen ancestors Adam and Eve. 12-22-76

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When a couple in the Kingdom of Heaven gives birth to children, they are the children of God: you can feel that immediately. When a couple loves each other in the kingdom, they can feel another dimension of God's love. When you have such a strong bond of love under God's protection, parents and children cannot he separated. Thus they experience vertical love on a higher level, and they will set the true tradition of loving relationships between children and parents. Once that is formed, that is God's nation and God lives there. Then our five spiritual senses will he opened, and we will live seeing everything and hearing everything. To inherit such a family tradition is the way the blessed couples meet God. 9-22-74

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We have to introduce God's love to our children. In their immaturity children do not automatically know God, so how will you teach them? You yourself must demonstrate the love of God. If you commit some kind of sin toward your own children, you must consider it the worst kind of crime. Instead of apologizing or repenting to God, you must mend your relationship with your children. That is much more important. If the children can forgive their parents, then God can automatically forgive you. On the other hand, when children commit some sin, the parents should take the position of their children and apologize or repent before God. Because of the parents, God will then forgive the children. 6-17-77

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Is it more important to live together and have three meals a day and enjoy your children -- or to solve the basic issues of our life, namely tradition and satisfying the Principle requirements for teaching our children? You must know what comes first; it is not as simple as just living together. You have to discipline yourself in a certain direction of life, making sure it is in conformity with the Principle. Then perhaps you will be a worthy textbook. 2-11-80

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You must raise your children to be the source of love to others. If your children become perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect, then what will they know how to do? They will transmit the love they received from their parents. 3-7-75

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A child is wordless, but he is a teacher who leads his parents.

Even while sleeping, I often wake up and immediately kneel to pray. Can I who know the parental heart sleep comfortably? You will never feel a guilty conscience if you live with the parental heart of raising children.

Parental heart is such that parents want their children to become better than themselves. God, the parent of mankind, wants the children He created to become better than Himself.

It is parental heart to want your children to establish families and clans that will be envied by the nation and the whole world. -- The Way of God's Will