Reverend Sun Myung Moon
April 22, 1979
Belvedere, New York
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
We are all born into life, and there is no one who does not value his or her own life. Many times we wonder why we were born and what our destination is. Throughout history all men have thought about this fundamental question, "For whom do I exist?" These are serious questions. For whom does the world exist? For me. For whom do I exist? For the sake of the world. I was born for the sake of the world, and the world exists for me.
What is the central factor we can gather around? What is the central theme that will bring us together with the world? We must never think that any creation exists on its own. Everything exists as one and we must link ourselves together with our surroundings. Therefore, the key word in the world today is "relationship." All creations exist in one central harmony so we are all related, not isolated.
Under those circumstances, let us consider the family, the place where parents and children can make a relationship. Again, the components of the family are all interrelated in one central harmony. What is the relationship between the nation and myself? Here too, the individual and nation cannot be separate. Americans, for instance, create some national characteristic or being through their relationships. Furthermore, no matter how great this nation may be, it cannot exist in isolated fashion in this world. It must relate to the rest of the nations and help create a greater existence on a worldwide scale.
What is our relationship to the spirit world? Some people feel they don't need to understand the existence of God because they don't have to relate to it. Though people may concede the existence of spirit world, they don't see how it relates to them, but that is the same as an individual's asking why he needs his family or country. The existence of God and spirit world is greater than our existence as individuals, so we must be related to that supreme existence somehow.
That is not the end of it. Ultimately we must pursue a certain purpose through these relationships. First of all, let us look at our situation. Our closest relationships are with our parents and brothers and sisters, and after marriage, with our spouses. Should the four different positions be going in random directions? Is there no central connection or discipline? Do all things exist at random? If they are related in one cohesive body, where are they going? No, their goal must be centered on one common purpose.
There must be some common purpose that men have been trying to achieve throughout history; that purpose has defined the pattern of history. If all four positions are going in one direction, are they going harmoniously, or in conflict? Whether you are American or Oriental, everyone would agree that we must go in harmony. Would people from the past answer differently? Young people today commonly talk about the older generation and the generation gap, but that kind of thinking contradicts the basic idea of creation. Many young people insist that they have their own lives to lead and question why they need their parents or why they should have to relate to their brothers and sisters and neighbors, but they are the truly crazy people.
Young ladies may be proud of wearing the latest Paris fashion or having a fine Swiss watch, but if at the same time they feel that they have nothing to do with their own nation, their thinking is contradictory. This one example shows that it is impossible for you to maintain your life all by yourself. You may think you live individually, but you must realize that you are all indebted to the nation and the world. How can you have the attitude, "If I won't bother you then you shouldn't bother me"? In that case you would have to close your nose and not breathe, or close your mouth and not eat. Try being truly independent for five minutes and see what happens! You would even have to block out the sun's rays because they are not yours. How can you steal the sun's rays?
If the soil were to claim the part of your flesh that came from the earth, what could you do? If you paid all your debts, you would have nothing left. Then where is your existence? When you truly analyze the situation, do you own your face and nose? If nature claimed all the pieces of you that belonged to it, there would be nothing left. If you really want to be independent then you must not eat or breathe.
You should realize that when you take care of yourself, combing your hair and putting on makeup, you are actually loving the world because you are a microcosm of the world. You are the world and the world is you, so when you smile the world smiles; when you walk the world walks. There is an echo relationship between the world and you; when you laugh the world would laugh. When you realize that, would you still think independently)?
Some people may like the very things you don't like. Americans probably don't care so much for hot sauce and kimchi, but the Koreans are crazy about it. Two elements may seem to be so tar apart that they are not related, like the North and South poles, but when you look at the globe you can truly see that they are interrelated. When you see clearly, there is an obvious relationship between them.
Would you like to live in a world sharp corners or a world of rounded character? You like roundness because that is the best shape for making a relationship with everyone and everything. The sun and planets are all round and all the creation has roundness of shape. Everything exists in motion and a triangular shape would have difficulty revolving; imagine a triangular tire, for instance. Roundness makes circular motion easier. A circular existence wants to fit into the environment and not remain apart. There is no truly sharp place in your body and you must think that you are rounded so that you can easily fit in with the universe, with the ultimate purpose of becoming one.
Would you like to have bigger or smaller things? Wouldn't a short man like only small things? No, in contrast he would probably prefer bigger things. Obviously things of all sizes are interrelated. Would vastly different things like the eyes, ears and mouth feel unrelated? Our bodies have many parts, but they are all related into one cohesive existence, and that is the beauty of our bodies.
Then why were you born ultimately? To harmonize with the universe and flow in the same rhythm. You are Americans, so would you rather hear that you were born to harmonize with America, or with the entire universe? Would you like to hear that you were born to harmonize with other races and add color, or to harmonize with your own race alone? Since becoming Moonies you are learning new ways of thinking. Why do you laugh? You laugh because relating to only one country and race is absurd and contradicts common sense.
Why were you born? To sing in rhythm with the universe and harmonize with everything. When you admire the beauty of flowers, you are seeing yourself within them; when you see the waves on the ocean you are seeing yourself within them. When the wind blows, there you are. At a beautiful place, like Belvedere when you hear the birds in the morning you are singing together with them. They are singing for you and you are joining their melody. We are supposed to lead poetic lives, and when the birds are singing you are making conversation with them. We are supposed to have lives rich in emotion and heart.
Is love the center of your life so far? That is secondary. You are living for the universe, as part of the universe. That universe includes your family, society, nation and God. Therefore, you are actually living for all of them. People are constantly striving to make a relationship with the best of the universe. What is the best of the universe? You might say gold and diamonds are the best. Before love and before God, what is the essential best of the universe? Since we are all resultant beings, there must be a causal being before us. If you are the result, who caused you to be here on earth? Your parents. Why do we need parents, plural? Is it essential to have more than one? Your being is the product of two other beings, the product of a relationship, not an isolated entity.
You might say you don't care and don't need your parents, but then you are a result denying its cause. Perfection can come only where there is cause and effect, or subject and object. A person who has a good ideal but whose action is apart from that ideal cannot be a perfect person. If a person pays lip service to an ideal but acts differently, he will be isolated by the world because the world cannot accept that kind of falsity. The universe is always true, and cause and effect must always come together. American custom is such that when your parents go West you go East, right? If that way of life goes against the universal principle, do you think such a nation could flourish?
What kind of cause and effect are parents and children? Their relationship is vertical. What about husband and wife? Do you young ladies need husbands some day? If God insists that you don't but you insist otherwise, then you will defeat God. Is a husband an absolute necessity or just nice to have? If some power separates husband and wife then the whole universe will weep and your own body won't function correctly. Then eating and sleeping and even existence itself becomes meaningless. Is this true for American women? I thought they were different.
Don't American women think that one man is just as good as another and that having more than one is fine? After joining the Unification Church you are learning this is not so, but before you might have seen nothing wrong with that idea. "Why do we have to be limited to one man?" women ask.
Can you cancel your connection to your parents ? Even if your father and mother are divorced, you know you still cannot deny your father and mother. If you have to go two different places to greet your parents, do you feel good? What decreed that is not good? The universe itself would say so. The universe always upholds its own laws and it brings pressure to bear on anything that opposes such laws. When you feel heartbroken if you break those laws' it is the universe letting you know you are opposing the universal way.
Pain and sickness result if the give and take relationship is impaired. That is the universe telling you that give and take is not going smoothly in your body. If you don't take care of it, the universe will you even more and finally you may even die, which means the universe has let you go. No one can exist if they contradict the rules of the universe. Americans want to live sensual, pleasurable lives and they see no reason to condemn free sex, but if that is in contradiction to the universal way of life then eventually that way will be cast off. You feel sad and discouraged when you cross purposes with the universe. Heartbreak is the punishment of the universe.
Your parents are above you in the vertical relationship and you are here today because of them. They gave you a mind and body which should parallel each other. You need both. You need your father and mother just as you need your mind and body, and by following that principle you will be accepted by the universe. If you would deny that, then the universe will deny you. If a husband dies, his wife is heartbroken, but why is she so sad? When any couple has a deep love but one partner dies, the other person's sorrow is a universal expression because their existence as a couple paralleled the life of the universe. If one is missing then in the view of the universe you are incomplete and the universe imparts its sorrow to you.
The causal being at the top of the vertical relationship is two parents. The more perfect the harmony you find between two parents, the more perfect the harmony you can find between mind and body. If mother and father are one in total understanding trust and love, then their children are bound to be happy and will come closer to perfection. You are not alone but have brothers and sisters. Again, the harmony with parents makes a beautiful trunk line for you to have perfect horizontal harmony between brothers and sisters. As much as your parents united into one to bring you into the world, so will your brothers and sisters be united into one. This is the vertical public law, so when you fight with your brothers and sisters do you feel good? What makes you feel uncomfortable? It is the universal, public law chastising you.
You know you are constantly under tons of air pressure but you don't feel it because the pressure from inside your body balances it. The universe is made in such harmony that the pressure inside and outside of you is balanced. The universal power and law of love says that with the action of love you can be more perfectly harmonized, and therefore, you must love your parents. It doesn't say to love your father and love your mother, but to love your parents, plural. It does not say to love this brother and this sister and this sister, but to love your brothers and sisters, plural .
Why isn't the law written in the singular? Because love makes love, and it comes into being in circular give and take, or plural relationships. This vertical relationship of subject and object is an absolute law in the universe and no one can destroy it. Nevertheless, many young people today think they only need horizontal relationships with friends and their spouse or lover, but they disdain the vertical relationships.
Can there be more than one straight line to diagram the vertical relationship? Does it end at one place or can it end at two places? Absolutely it can end at only one place. There is always one center, period; that center is true love. When the absolute vertical exists, true love is there. Therefore, no parents can deny their children and no children can deny their parents. Whether your parents are disabled or their children are handicapped, no one can cancel that relationship. That is the public law of the universe.
Are you children of filial piety, faithful sons and daughters? If your parents are divorced then you as their child have the power to reunite them. The parent child relationship is an absolute one. They must recognize you as their child, and for your sake alone they have an obligation to love each other because the public law of the universe decrees that parents must always be ready to sacrifice for the sake of their children. Not one individual but two brought a child into the world, and therefore, to have the right to look at the child they must be two together. Parents must feel that way and be able to love each other as much as they love their children.
If there is a God do you think His logic would be like this? If this law were changeable then there would be no such thing as true love. Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, always in the same proportion. Could they produce anything else? No, because physical reactions are unchangeable according to natural law. In the same way, the subject must always love the object, which always respects and loves the subject. By doing so circular give and take of love is present. Some of you might think this is Oriental philosophy, but I tell you that even in the Orient you won't find such philosophy. This is God's philosophy, the universal philosophy.
In order to comply with the universal law, we must recognize our parents as subject and love them, receiving their love in return. Why do we have to live in harmonious oneness? So we can receive recognition from the universe that we have complied with universal law. Article One in the universal constitution compels children to unite with their parents. You might say this is the worst form of dictatorship, but through absolute obedience you can be entitled to absolute love. This is the channel where absolute love can flow. If you want absolute love instead of mediocre love then you have to go the absolute way.
I wish that your parents could hear this, especially if they are thinking about kidnapping you. You are not quite happy if there is no oneness between your parents and you. Without harmony there is always some burden. You must take up the responsibility of educating your parents and so you need some strategy.
When you obey this principle then you cannot end up anywhere except in love for your parents. If you have a loving relationship, is absolute obedience to those people a joy or a burden? Absolute obedience brings absolute happiness. Practice and experience this and you will know it.
Article One in the universal constitution covers vertical love, but with that alone the universe cannot turn. Horizontal relationships are needed to complete circular motion. This is Article Two. No action can take place around one simple line, but action can occur where there are both vertical and horizontal lines.
Then what is the core of that horizontal line? Husband and wife, man and woman. They make up the horizontal line but it must cross the vertical line at precisely 90 degree in order to be acceptable to the universe. The evenly distributed 90 degrees formed in four sections by the crossing of those lines makes up 360 degrees, and perfect love can only act upon that line. The love now in vogue in America is like a diagonal line crossing the vertical, and as a result young people have gotten involved in all kinds of crazy things like disco dancing. If carnal desire is the purpose of your life then the universal law will reject it and you will crumble, no matter how much you try to survive.
You young women want to get married. What kind of horizontal line would you like to draw? If you men determine to walk in such a way that you establish precisely 90 degrees, then when you close your eyes and walk ahead, the object you bump into will be the perfect woman. You won't have to go out on dates or examine pictures; if you bump into her then she must be walking at exactly 90 degrees also.
In this principle there should be equal proportions of men and women in the population because they have to bump into one another in equal numbers. God already worried about providing your subject and object, knowing that otherwise the greatest competition on earth would be the competition for marriage. When you live in a pure and upright manner then you are bound to become a perfect husband or wife. If you want to marry someone, do so not just for himself individually but because of the tradition of perfect vertical love in his family. If you see the parents fighting then don't marry their son, no matter how good he looks, because things will be bound to go wrong. There is no way you can expect things to go smoothly in a home where your parents argue.
How many husbands would you want, one or two or more? What happens if your one and only husband dies? Then you will live by yourself until you get to spirit world also. When a perfect horizontal and vertical line cross, there is perfect circular motion. If a family is living according to universal law the universe is ready to pour down upon them its blessing of complete joy. You may insist you don't want to eat, but the universe will give you blessing regardless. If you insist on blocking your mouth then the rest of your body will eat instead.
This particular law works in the nation as well as the family. When you analyze political systems, which is more godly-elected government or monarchy? Now you think that a heavenly monarchy is best and the State Department will think I am the enemy of democracy! But let them think their way; we think of God and the Principle. The parents on a national scale become king and queen and the people are in the position of children. When the people form a perfect horizontal line, they make up one big circle with the monarchs. In light of this is American democracy a perfect ideology?
If this formula works for the nation then what about the world? Isn't it logical to think that the world should have common parents? There are governors in each of fifty states, and they are in the position of parents. Why couldn't the world be considered one federation and have one central government also? Then the head of the world would be the king of kings. That is the very ideology of the Messiah, and even democratic Americans want to see this king of kings come.
Beyond the universe we have the cosmos, which includes the spirit world. Who will rule that cosmos? God. In Korean the sound "god" means the traditional hats worn by the aristocratic men, so in both languages God is right on top.
This 90 degree angle should be precise on every level and then everything can fit into one grand circle. That means when you have perfected your love on the family level that you obtain total freedom in the family. That freedom extends to the nation, world and cosmos. Therefore, in the Unification Church the family is the building block of the Kingdom of Heaven. When we construct absolute relationships in the family, they extend to every other level up through the cosmos. That is why we discipline ourselves in the workshop of family life. Perfection and freedom will blossom right in the center of the family in the relationship of vertical and horizontal. Jesus aimed for this goal and God has been aiming for this because once it is achieved, every goal can be achieved.
The Unification Church diagrams this as the heavenly four positions, the basis of Divine Principle. Parents and children are essential components, and by relating in absolute obedience and loyalty and love they are perfecting the ideal of the universe.
We can enter the Kingdom of Heaven only as a family unit, so we need parents, husband and wife and children. You can never enter heaven as an individual. This is most logical. If there is no perfection on this family level then the Kingdom of Heaven in spirit world is closed. This is why the Kingdom of Heaven has not yet existed. It is still yet to come. When you perfect vertical and horizontal love on the family level, you can expand that to the national and world and cosmic scales. Although you are small in comparison with the whole universe, you are positioning yourself at the very core, and by doing so everything in the universe is related to you.
Therefore, love is the central theme, and by centering upon true love you can find your home, nation, world and universe. No one could ever deny this central law, Article One of the constitution of the universe. If anyone does so, they will crumble. in every direction we can shout out Ahman. Then even if you go to the discos, you would still be Ahman. If you and your husband were wired together in a surgical operation, you would still be Ahman. Once you reach that absolute love you have total freedom. That's the way I see heaven. Once you reach that goal then no matter how fast or how much you turn, you cannot go wrong; perfection will continue regardless. If you hit a stone wall and shatter, perfection is still yours. No one can destroy you. That is the ideal heaven we want to create.
I want to see Moonies' faces shining in joy and light. You must say to the world, "Come to me and I will harmonize you." Would you want to harmonize everyone, or would you still maintain reservations about some people? When you live with broadminded love and absolute obedience to the Principle, whoever comes will always be welcome. Say Ahman to the universe for the absolute love which continues everything. Once you position yourself in that center, the universe will come alive with you and then there will be nothing foreign or separate from you.
There are many heavenly bodies in the cosmos, but there is always a central theme or discipline connecting them. Without that connection the universe couldn't exist for even one day. Blessed husbands and wives, raise your hands please. You should repent if you ever complained for being given your particular mate. Pledge that from today you will not complain but be a perfect husband and wife. The universe is your partner and you must harmonize with the universe so you can receive its blessing and pass it to your children. I want you to understand that true love is the most precious thing, not you.
When you become a dynamo of true love, you can melt everything into true love, without limit. You can be surprised at yourself when you realize you can embrace the universe and wonder when you became such a person of love. You should be surprised at yourself some time and realize you are different
Today's topic is The Mission of Our Life. What is our responsibility? It is to set the tradition or discipline of love on the family, tribal, national and worldwide levels. You must set the pattern of love. For the sake of fulfilling this absolute love you work and cry and sweat. When you go to God's throne and He asks what you accomplished while on earth, you can reply that you loved your family more than anything else, even more than you loved Him. Do you think God would be outraged and evict you? Instead of calling you a rascal He will proclaim that you are His child and that everything of His is yours. Since you loved your family more than Him, He will love you for eternity more than He loves Himself. What more could you want?
Love must be absolute; not carnal, but God-centered. Because of harmony God will want to see a balance among the races; therefore, a woman like a pumpkin should marry a man like a carrot. They can make perfect harmony, dramatic harmony, and so that match would be most ideal. In satanic thinking only the best things or similar things should come together, like well educated people, or poor people with poor people. But God thinks differently. He thinks that when opposites come together and love in perfect harmony it is the most dramatically beautiful thing to see.
In this theory is it more ideal for white and white to come together, or white and black? Aren't you apprehensive in your heart? If God were going to honor outstanding couples on earth do you think He would pay most attention to white or black or yellow couples doing well, or multicolor couples doing well? If you put yourself in God's position, a harmony of colors would seem most natural and beautiful.
If you ask for international marriage but you get a mate of your own race then you can still say you were willing to marry someone of another race regardless, and God will approve. In the dispensational development a national foundation has to be laid before the world level, and the True Parents were installed before we reached the world level. So I just obeyed God. I was completely willing to marry a black woman like a potato if necessary. I always thought that would be most dramatic and would give most joy to God.
When I was matching couples in Europe last year there were all kinds of Europeans gathered but there was no regard for nationality or language; I only matched ideal couples. One thing you can rest assured of is that a man will be matched with a woman. Actually the ideal of matching would be for men and women to close their eyes and walk forward until they bump into someone and then take that person. God sees a dramatic beauty there.
Your duty in life is not to look just for enjoyment but to love your parents and brothers and sisters, the world and God. Therefore, you want to exercise that love in a most dramatic manner by being a sacrifice and living for the family and world. The more dramatic the better. You can be a dramatic example of love sacrifice it you are a dynamo of love. By receiving you, God receives love. When you represent such absolute love and go to the world, you are truly living love and are most pleasing to God. Once you enjoy the perfect love of your parents, you cannot enjoy any other love that is fake. Their love forms the backbone of your love.
Would you American women like to marry a husband from a large family? Or would you rather just have your husband to yourself? You are going as a queen of love to your husband's family, and to be a good queen you need many subjects to give your love to. Then you would want to have many family members around so you can practice your love. Would you like that, or would you hang back?
What is the purpose of your life? It is to practice love so you can receive absolute freedom and liberation. When you are trying to make a loving relationship with the world, everyone will respond and like you, even animals and plants. Nothing can unite the universe except the power of love. The entire universe will dance with a loving husband and wife, moving around together. The workshop of that love is the Unification Church.
Do you love me? You love me and Mother as True Parents, so here you are actually practicing the most important vertical relationship found in the constitution of the universe. When you live it, you enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We are opening up the Kingdom of Heaven by loving parents and brothers and sisters. That's what we are doing here in the Unification Church. Cod wants you to love your parents and brothers and sisters more than Him. In the same way, Mother and I want you to love your brothers and sisters more than us. That will be the most welcome, exciting thing for us to see.
Loving brothers and sisters this intensely will evoke the love of the parents and they will all be involved in one harmony. When you practice your way of life in this vertical discipline and are blessed, you can draw a perfect horizontal line. Then you shall be entitled to love the world and God.
We have come to the conclusion. You were born to love your parents, and brothers and sisters, and husband and wife. Ahman! Let us pray.
