The Dividing Peak Of Restoration [Part 1]

Sun Myung Moon
January 15, 1978
Belvedere, New York
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

The dividing peak of restoration is analogous to the mountain down which water flows; which side the water flows down will determine which of two totally different worlds it will enter.

Today all men are looking for some hope for the world, which reveals that the world in which we live is not yet the world in which hope has been realized. It is still necessary to eliminate all the negative forces which are blocking the fulfillment of that hope. This principle is true not only in human life but also with God. Saying that God created the world implies that He did more than just start physical life forms; He bequeathed His hope and vision to His creation and started it on a journey to the realization of that hope. Our beginning a certain task signifies the start of a journey toward a goal and purpose, and completing the task necessitates our going over a certain pinnacle.

Many people talk about a goal that they want to accomplish, but they are reluctant to make any diligent effort. In that case their hope will never be realized. Would you want to have a small, medium sized, or an extra large goal? We want big things that transcend nationality, culture, and the color of a man's skin; we are the people who want to reach the highest, most noble goal possible. Did people of the past think differently? What about those of the future? Whether past, present or future, all mankind has been pursuing one great goal.

Why do people want big things? After all, having just enough money to take care of yourself is fine, but having too much money becomes a burden. Presently, you are living simple lives, but if all of sudden you owned enough gold to fill an entire room, it would be only a worry and a burden. You hope for big things, but if all of a sudden those big things were substantiated, what would you do? Could you take care of them adequately? This is a serious consideration.

Many of our Church members dream about having one intimate meeting with me, which is a pleasant thought for you, but it would be an enormous task for me! I would have to continue 24 hours a day with no moment's rest in order to accommodate everybody. It is good to look forward to a wonderful goal, but once that gigantic hope is realized you must know how to take care of it.

Knowing that I could not possibly meet privately with every member of our Church, you actually redirect that particular desire onto the horizontal level in your dealings with others. When you meet with others or with nature, you act and feel as though you were meeting with me, putting yourself in my position to comfort and counsel and give lots of love. Suddenly you will find that not only is your heart filled, but you feel more joy than if you had met privately with me. Such men and women will be greater than those who actually meet me.

Let us expand this theory. You want to meet God, but putting yourself in God's position for a moment, what kind of time would you need to meet with each of four billion people just one time? If they all wanted to see God more than once it would be completely impossible! God could not do it. Have you ever wondered what God's main occupation is in this respect?

When you love someone, do you need to have them nearby all the time or doesn't distance matter? There is a principle in this universe which says that the greater the distance between two lovers, the greater the intensity of their love. Have you ever felt a longing for your loved one? Normally when two lovers are with each other all the time they don't feel an intense yearning for one another, but when they are separated their longing for each other becomes intense. Is this true of the animal world? Do monkeys have high hopes? No, this is the privilege of man alone.

Because we are fully aware of the rest of the world, we want to have a relationship with it instead of being separated. Therefore, man's hope is big enough to embrace the whole world. Is a white person's hope limited to white people, or does it include everyone no matter what color their skin is? Hope proceeds from outer to inner, and your pursuit of a big hope means that it hasn't been realized yet. Historically the hope of oppressed people was realized first, and in the next generation they became the conquerors. Just as your body hunches up when it is cold, people normally gather together very tightly when persecution comes. When they clash with their oppressors which group will break first, the loosely organized group or the solidly united one? The Jewish people have provoked controversy all over the world. Many people say that Jews are especially brilliant, but actually all people are the same; the world's persecution simply spurred the Jews to a greater extent than usual. The significant thing is this: when Jews were a persecuted minority they could not be destroyed or ruined, but when they became respectable and established themselves, they in turn tried to oppress others. This is the most dangerous time for them.

Being oppressed and persecuted is not necessarily a regrettable position to be in. Under those circumstances you can spur yourself on and manifest your brilliant ability. Is the Unification Church in a position to oppress others or to be oppressed? Persecution is coming from all sides, with people around the world united together to undo us. Instead of being defeated by them, we interpret their actions as showing hope that all five races can be united by the Unification Church.

It is a good sign that the Unification Church has become controversial and that people all over the world are trying to persecute us. It will all be over very quickly, but as long as it lasts you will be totally united because of this external pressure and you will form a solid core. You cannot prevent a high-pressure air mass from rushing into a low-pressure area, and once they meet they will create a happy medium. Your hard-core unity creates one which influences the whole area of these extremes and from that moment on motion automatically begins.

When you white people see a black person walking down the street toward you, do you see a black person or a brother? How do you black people feel; are you conscious of color'? What is your instant evaluation in that situation? Even God has to see a person's color, but God loves all men equally. The difference between you and God is that after learning the Divine Principle you reason, "Why do I love him even though he is white? Why is he my brother even though he is black'?" Once you are convinced in logic, you start to love people of different races. That's not God's way, though. God looks at a person and thinks "He is my creation," and instantly falls in love with him. God's instant reaction is joy at seeing His child, and that is the strongest feeling of all.

America is really a multi-colored country, and sometimes you see two parents who both have blond hair but whose child has black hair. Sometimes I wonder if that is really their child, but if you put yourself in the position of those parents, would you ever think that the child was not yours? The fact that a child is theirs is more important to the parents than anything else. Everything about him is beautiful. Do brothers and sisters automatically ostracize one of their family if his skin or hair is different from theirs? No, before they think of their brother's skin they think that he is their brother. That is the most important thing.

In all creation you will find three points, a central line, and roundness

The fact that the number three is mentioned so often in the Bible indicates that it must be significant. When three points are connected, an enormous variety of creations is possible and the infinite mystery of the universe unfolds. When you look at your own face, you see a combination of three points beautifully harmonized; your eyes, for example, have two corners and a center, as well as a top, bottom and middle. In the world of mathematics there is a zero point in the center and positive and negative numbers on either side. No matter which direction you move in, there is always an opposite direction.

The dividing peak is actually triangular in shape, forming three angles and three points. When love unites a man and a woman into one, they move to a neutral position where whether one is a man or woman is disregarded. The eyes function in a similar way. Each eye sees a different image, but the brain focuses these images into one picture. God placed the eyes so that they would focus without forming a double image.

Can you explain why you like to see a person laughing instead of crying? When you are silent or moody your mouth is closed and there is only one line, which doesn't offer variety. When you laugh, however, your mouth is open and forms a circle which contains three major areas. A round shape evokes a good feeling because it can harmonize with anything without too much resistance. On a pool table the round balls can quickly move around and make everyone happy.

In the human body the rounder shapes are more precious. The important elements in our face, for example, are round, and the heart has a round shape as well. A person who is very healthy is not thin but built like a tree trunk, like me. This is important for you women to remember when you are selecting a husband. Don't look at a man from only a front view; look at the side and check whether or not he is thin like a piece of paper.

All creation is essentially round; all the heavenly bodies are round and they move in orbits. It is the basis of creation that the more perfect the circle, the more perfectly something will harmonize with the universe. Laughter rounds out everything in the face. It is not natural to be serious for too long because God created us to laugh and smile.

Do you use just your mouth when you laugh, or does everything get involved, including your limbs? The face of a person who is really laughing without any reservation blooms like a flower. That person has a beautiful mind and cannot be a completely evil person. You can accurately evaluate a person by his smile and his laugh. Some people have very sneaky, uncomfortable smiles; their mouths are trying to laugh but the rest of their faces are stern.

When you really laugh your whole body responds. That is how it is supposed to act, but because there is a lack of harmony between your body and mind the whole body often doesn't listen. An uncomfortable laugh reveals a great deal about a person's mind. If there were many things to smile and laugh about together, it would mean that many happy things were happening. One laugh after another leads to happiness, and that is where art and dancing and music begin. Does anyone dance and sing when a tragedy occurs?

We are integrated with the rest of the universe and we have to move according to universal principles. Everything in the universe has reciprocal relationships and give and take usually results in three lines, both horizontally and vertically. Are your arms both the same or different? If several things are identical then you can stack them one on top of another, but your arms can't be stacked like that. God didn't make them to be identical.

It is natural that your two hands always join in a circle when trying to lift something. Trying to move your hands in a straight line is unnatural because we were not made to move in straight lines. You lift up your legs when you walk in order to cover three points with each step. Your fingers have three joints and there are three major joints in your arms. The eyes, nose and mouth outline three levels on your face. How ugly you would be if you had no nose, leaving you with only two levels on your face!

A person's face reveals much about him. A person whose face dips in at the center will have some suffering during middle age. Why is the egg shape more suitable for the human face, with the wider end on top? Have you ever thought about having your two eyes located down near the chin? The eyes are way up top in order to oversee everything from the highest position. The eyes represent God and the nose represents Adam and Eve, being one organ but having two holes which join together inside. Should Adam and Eve be represent by two separate organs instead?

The mouth is wide horizontally, representing the horizontal or physical world where food comes from. In eating a meal, all three levels of your face work together; the eyes look at the food's beauty, the nose smells its odor and the mouth actually eats it. Why did God give the nose the function of smell? The nose represents man, who conquers or controls the airy environment. The eyes and ears link us to nature and to our surroundings. You not only like to eat Western food, you sometimes like Oriental food, which shows that your mouth links you to the whole horizontal world.

The arms are placed on opposite sides of the body, but the two hands join together to make beautiful harmony. Do you write with your left hand or your right hand? The right hand never accuses the left hand of being idle and useless; instead they meet in the center and work together. A balanced person does not clap his hands to one side because everything should meet in the center and be straight.

When your two hands join together they form one central line which starts from between the eyes, and continues down the nose and the center of the mouth. You should be able to walk straight, not slanted to one side. A soccer champion who always kicks the ball with his right leg doesn't walk down the street leaning to his right side; even though one leg is stronger than the other, the left and right work together. With both legs working in harmony there is greater strength than the two working separately.

How does this principle apply to men and women? Which unity is more powerful, unity between two women, or unity between one very masculine man and one feminine woman? Women's basic nature is such that three women will never unite. When three or more women gather together there is always a squabble and the whole village erupts in noise. This is true in the Orient; is it true in America too? Putting together three of the Chinese character which represents a woman creates the character meaning "The worst possible consequences." That is the Chinese philosophy.

A man is needed because women by themselves find it impossible to cooperate. The man should be the subject, standing like a tower in the center. This is the beauty of God's plan in which one is feminine and weak and the other is masculine and strong, but joined together they make an invincible combination. Electricity works on the same principle. Keeping all this in mind, do you think that God would have created the Orient and the Western world to be the same? Naturally they should be different. When the East and West are finally united together the ultimate unity of the universe will be seen.

Love will be the binding force to unite East and West. The binding force of culture or of ecumenism will not hold, but when you bind East and West together with a chain of love, it will not break. Today the trend is for Westerners to be intrigued by the mysterious East, while Easterners are drawn toward the scientific West. America is an entirely foreign world to the Japanese people, but when they come to the West they want to stay. The same thing happens when Westerners marry Orientals; they want to go to the East to live because they find more stimulation there. When cold water hits a hot surface there is a big explosion; in the same way the ideal marriage will be a universal marriage of East and West. I am the flag-bearer in the quest for unity of the East and West with a chain of love.

I could go on like this for hours and hours, but in summary, I have been talking about three points. There is a central boundary line to everything. You must become men and women who can freely travel across the central boundary in each direction, because that action will be more in harmony with the universe and the closest to the Principle of God's creation.

The American welfare system vs. heavenly welfare

You say that America has a democratic form of government, but some aspects of American life are even more dictatorial and severe than life under communism. I am speaking of segregation, which is not so blatant in communist countries. When discussions about human rights take place in the United Nations, the communist ambassadors point out to the United States ambassador that in spite of the Bill of Rights, certain people, like Reverend Moon, are exceptions to the rule. Why are the American ambassadors embarrassed by such questions? There is definitely a deeply embedded attitude of segregation in America that cannot reconcile the differences between the races.

The American system of taxation illustrates how different chains bind people here than in the communist countries. In the communist countries the state is the landlord and farmers give one third of a crop to the government and keep two thirds to sell. According to the sliding scale of taxation in America, however, well-to-do people may pay as much as 80% or 90% of their incomes to the government. lt is a different kind of chain which controls the individual's life here in America. On the surface people here are free, but actually there is not so much room for maneuver. America's virtue lies in the fact that here the law is supreme, but when this nation faces a large-scale emergency it is totally incapable of dealing with it.

Should the authority of the law be the ultimate point of reference? Or is decency of human life and human rights more important? Democracy is supposed to be the government of the people, for the people, and on the surface American society seems to be open and free, but when you look more deeply you will find that it is very inflexible. The point is that harmony is essential; emphasizing only one element such as human rights or the law is inadequate to guarantee peace and prosperity.

The theory behind the welfare system is very fine, but in practice it has often degraded human life. New York is a victim of its welfare system. Norway and other Scandinavian countries are trying to perfect a social welfare system, or what they call "cradle-to-grave" welfare. That kind of system sounds good but it has killed human creativity and incentive. Why should you work hard to become a Ph.D. if everyone is going to be taken care of by the state anyway?

Young people must be motivated to live purposeful lives instead of spending their time in leisure activity, pursuing carnal desires and pleasure. God created man to live creative, active, full lives, and a welfare system only discourages that. The present system is so well established and regulated that it is very difficult to bring about changes, but we must introduce God's way of life regardless.

The so-called advanced nations, such as America, Japan and Germany, are all running into stone walls and it's very difficult for them to change. Hope lies instead in the underdeveloped countries where people are willing labor and sweat to advance themselves. If they are motivated by the ideal and purpose of God, they will be much freer to invest themselves in building a God-centered world. I am not saying that the welfare system is wrong or that the American system is wrong. No, the original goal and ideal is right, but it has become distorted and gone to extremes. The original purpose has disappeared, and instead of providing incentives for people to really better themselves, it encourages them to sit at home and wait for their welfare checks.

There must always be give and take. The person who receives a welfare check must think that it was made possible by someone sweating to make those dollars. In appreciation, that person should want to do something productive to reciprocate, returning some benefit to society. That's the only way a welfare system can be workable. One of the reasons New York is virtually bankrupt is that many New Yorkers wait for their money to come to them instead of contributing to the whole.

This attitude is becoming a world trend. Poor people from South America think that in America all you have to do is declare unemployment and sit in an armchair and wait for your check to come. From a heavenly point of view, the welfare system needs to be brought back to the original concept of God and made to encourage human creativity, giving dignity to man. We are certainly a different kind of people because we feel that it is a crime to become a burden to someone.

If I were a billionaire, would you like to sit idle and receive welfare checks from me, or would you want to be creative and make money, knowing I would use it for the purpose of God? The American government is puzzling over the Unification Church because other organizations pay their people to work, but here you work hard to contribute money instead. It is totally opposite the present world trend. The two systems must be harmonized because both are too extreme. We will eventually settle into the happy medium.

In the last days the old world will be divided from the new

How is restoration related to the dividing peak? We call the origin of sin the fall of man. Man originated at a certain point but fell below that level; restoration means that he must return to his original position. Since the fall actually initiated human history, where would you begin the history of restoration? Of course it would start at the extreme opposite of the fallen position, and the extreme end of history is what we call the end of the world. Restoration starts at the end of the world, or the last days, which the Bible says is when the Messiah or Savior will appear and save the world.

What does the Bible mean by the end of the world'? At that time everything in the world will end. Whether the ideologies of communism and democracy disappear will not matter because they will not be serving any purpose. The entire national system will be based on the family as the building block of our heavenly society. When the end of the world comes, will the old family system crumble or not?

If we say that the area above this line represents heaven and below the line represents the fallen world, then everything we now have is below the line. All the systems, the organizations and the ways of life man now has all belong to the fallen world, and in one way or another they must end and start anew. God's world should be the extreme opposite of the satanic world and use an entirely different system. Without doubt this present system has to end. This explains why a movement must begin which will lead people to deny the present ways of governing societies as well as man's present habits and attitudes, and make a new, heavenly system instead. That heavenly way is what all men are hoping for. Such a movement will begin at the end of the world and signify the coming of the Lord. It will mark the transformation point from the old world to the new world.

Is the Messiah coming as one individual here on earth, or will he bring his entire government and cabinet with him? He will come as one person, and God will not automatically give him a family, society and nation. Initially he will restore himself into perfection and then he will restore his family, society, nation, world and cosmos.

When the cosmos is restored, the kingdom of hell on earth will disappear. This particular point is the dividing peak of history, the beginning point of a new history which will progress upward all the way into heaven. There is a dividing peak at every level of the dispensation, and in order to continue advancing every person must pass through judgment at each one. The Messiah cannot come and just declare that as of a certain day all America is in heaven. Each person has to grow into it.

This entire sequence will be covered within twenty years, which is the shortened period of the 2,000 years of New Testament restoration. The Messiah could not live for 2,000 years on earth, so restoration must be condensed into his lifetime. Through studying the Divine Principle, you will see that the Messiah's work will be consummated within twenty years and if everything goes well it could even be done in seven years. That is the time period in which the Unification Church has been working, fulfilling those twenty years in three seven-year courses.

The Messiah's mission is vastly more complex than Adam's

What is the Messiah going to do when he comes? He will cross over the hills of perfection on each level of the individual, family, nation and world. Each one forms a mountain, and therefore each one has a dividing peak. At each level there is judgment and as a person continues advancing to the pinnacle of each hill, he creates one straight line. Finally he will reach the ultimate hill of universal perfection. When God looks at the work of His dispensation, He sees that this is the logical way to do it.

Did Adam and Eve need a Messiah before the fall? There was only one man, Adam, and his reaching perfection would have established the perfection of all mankind. Once Adam's family was perfected, the entire human race would automatically reach perfection as it expanded into a tribe, nation and world. Because of the fall of man, however, the whole structure was demolished and everyone must help remake it. In order to repattern the garden of Eden in our day, the central person must be a man because God created Adam first. The person God promised to send in the last days is known as the Messiah, who is coming in the position of Adam in order fulfill Adam's role which was left unperfected in the garden of Eden.

Many thousands of years elapsed as God strove to establish another Adam on earth. God has not changed His idea even one iota; this is why the Messiah will come with an ideology identical to God's original ideal. He must perfect himself and set up his family, which will then expand into a tribe, nation and world. During Adam's time the job was rather simple because Adam and Eve only had to be concerned with themselves. Once they were perfected, everything else would have been perfected. The restoration era is different now because there is already a world of people which needs to be restored, as well as many thousands of years of history.

Originally the perfection of Adam and Eve would have guaranteed the perfection of a society, a nation and the world, but they fell before they reached that level and everything else that came after the fall became the fallen world. When the Messiah comes to this earth, he will face an unprincipled world which is totally occupied by the fallen generation, while Adam and Eve had before them a vacant, unoccupied world. Unlike Adam in the garden of Eden, the Messiah comes with the additional mission of embracing the existing world and restoring it into the heavenly world. How difficult that mission must be!

Adam and Eve had an easy job to do, but they fell and brought the entire world down with them. Now the Messiah not only has to fulfill Adam's mission of perfecting himself as well as his family, society, nation and world, but he must restore each fallen man and woman one by one, lifting them up to the original position. To make his job even more difficult, this world is divided up to an incredible degree by differences of language, culture and race. There are many barriers the Messiah has to break through when he comes, but nevertheless it is his job to bring the entire world together.

Now you can understand why the dispensation starts from denial of the existing system of living and of the old loyalties. Each person must first leave the old world and start anew. Unless there is a movement that teaches this, the world has no hope to return to God's ideal. Just blindly denying things is not what is called for; you must know beforehand the precise way to recreate yourself. First you must see a new vision and hope centering on the Messiah. As soon as you unite with him you can become a new creation and give hope to mankind. Then all people will have a goal and can find the courage to deny themselves and unite with him.

Self-denial is necessary to get out of the shackles of the fallen world, but if you are blindly groping then you are like a ship without a captain and you don't know where you are going. In the fallen world you have been buried under your family, your nation and the world, but now you have to cut the shackles away and unite with the coming Messiah.

When you deny yourself, you will find a new family; when you deny your family, you become the member of a new family which has the value of the world because it is equivalent to Adam's family. This is why we have the term "True Parents." They are the center of the new home and by joining with them you will create a new race. You can disregard anything you had in the past because your new value is greatly increased.

God is shaking everything loose in the sinful world

Ultimately the new society and new race will expand into a nation and then the world, and from then on the fallen world will be rebuilt according to its original pattern without compromising anything. As the Messiah increases that success step-by-step onto the worldwide scale, he is not only building his own family, clan and race, but also restoring all the world's human beings into his own race.

Everything in the Garden of Eden remained as an unfulfilled ideal after the fall, but here in this new world the ideal will become a visible, tangible reality. You are becoming citizens of what country? God's nation and the Kingdom of God. When the Roman governor, Pilate, asked Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world." In our time we will say that we are citizens of God's kingdom on earth.

The Kingdom of God on earth is no longer just a concept, but a kingdom that we can make. Can the Kingdom of God on earth accommodate all the human races on earth? The kingdom, which you joined as a pioneer, embraces all races, all languages and all nations. You can cross all human barriers. Even God has had a hard time breaking through the racial, cultural and nationalistic barriers, but you have already crossed them. God has been struggling for 6,000 years trying to break down the barriers, but have you gone through such a bitter struggle? Some higher ideology has enabled you to cross those barriers.

Put yourself in the position of God, who has been doing His best for many thousands of years to eliminate the barriers, but who now sees the Unification Church members cross the barriers after going to a 7-day workshop. Would God be excited or not? There are no barriers for us; they have been broken down. In the world at large, barriers are only bent through force, and the battered human race can only see a world without any hope. People don't know why families crumble, why society is corrupt or why one nation after another is falling.

The situation is America today is beyond the control of any human government. The extensive moral degradation has spawned trends toward free sex, streaking and drug addiction. Do American young people have any love for their parents or nation? Do they worry about the world of tomorrow?

God is helping us and preparing for the harvest by shaking everything loose in the world of sin. When the new ideology of unselfishness is installed, the evil ways of the old world can easily be pulled aside. No matter how proud Americans may be of their democratic system, the heavenly dispensation will replace democracy. On the worldwide scale the democratic era is over, but the communist era is also over. The communists think they will take over the world, but they will be defeated. America has been preaching democracy to the world as the supreme ideology, but America has found that democracy doesn't always work everywhere. The entire world is answering that democracy is fine for America, but that each country prefers its own system.

Initially the communists talked about world brotherhood, but today they have become nationalistic, fighting with each other over their own national goals. The communists have proven that they do not have a universal ideology and that they cannot embrace the world. Democracy didn't work everywhere and even here in America it is having a hard time. Money talks, and democracy functions according to money and favors. Is that true democracy?

All these things will come to an end. Democracy has always been manipulated largely by selfish interests; white people use democracy only to benefit themselves, while black people have not participated fully and have not been given their share. There has never been a black candidate for the American presidency, and even if a black candidate entered the race, no matter how great he might be, the white majority would think, "We cannot afford to have a black president."

Democracy in the truest sense is not working; communism is only materialistic, emphasizing industry and productivity, as though human beings were machines. Of course, democracy is superior to communism because at least democracy recognizes human rights and dignity, but democracy is not the ultimate ideology. What will that ultimate ideology be? Does having constitutional rights make a person perfectly happy? Suppose everyone all over the world had the human rights that President Carter has been advocating. If a personal tragedy were to strike a person's family then he would be unhappy, regardless of his rights.

Human rights should be based on the fulfillment of love. Love must be fulfilled and then having human rights will bring happiness. If husband and wife are fighting at home over their human rights, would they feel the fulfillment of happiness? Can claiming one's own rights and disregarding the other person's rights bring happiness?

God pays the most attention to love

Love is the ultimate ideology. Centering upon love, the privileges and dignities of human rights can be given and the survival of such a democracy can be guaranteed. If individuals are concerned with giving sacrificial love then democracy can prosper, but otherwise it will wither. If communism was based upon a God-centered, unselfish love, then that ideology would be great, but since the basic premise is that God does not exist and that the material world is supreme, that could never happen. Millions can be purged overnight in the communist world, but that could never occur when love is central.

All Things Depend On Us

Sun Myung Moon
January 8, 1978
Belvedere, New York
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

First of all, I would like to wish you happy New Year. This is the second Sunday of the new year. In sending 1977 away every one feels regret and sadness because of some lack of fulfillment. Not too many can look back on the entire year and say that they have done well, and particularly in welcoming 1978 everyone must resolve themselves to not have these regrets again in welcoming 1979.

Each day should certainly have a goal but at the end of the day many people wish they could have done better. If that is the case then what about the end of life? Considering one life as one day, the same results could be lamented at the end of one long life.

Even though a person may have some regrets from the past year, as long as he has hope and vision and determination to launch into the goal for the new year, that man can go on. If he has no vision and hope, however, that man is finished. Life here on earth is the same as one year so the same thing applies. If the day of death has come but I still have something to look forward to even after life then I have conquered death. But on the other hand if someone is totally in darkness and misery and confusion, that person is certainly a tragic figure.

This can be said about a nation also, not just an individual. America, for example, has over 200 years of history and has reached the peak of prosperity, but many Americans feel disillusioned. Their lives are empty and they do not really see hope for this nation. If they don't see a vision for this nation then the situation has reached a deadlock.

Suppose this nation faces an emergency and really needs some energy to reach a new height of greatness but there's no hope in the hearts of its citizens. What kind of destiny can this nation expect? There is nothing ahead but sadness and tragedy in that case. Day always follows the night and even though no one really loves the darkness of night they can still look beyond that darkness to the new day coming. Hope overcomes the darkness.

Were you born in despair and darkness, or were you born with hope, a goal and a purpose? Of course a new baby would have no idea how and why he was born, but the family's friends and relatives surround that baby with their hope. The baby's father and mother feel hope through their child, and his whole family hopes that some day he will become a good and fulfilled person. This is why the birth of a child is an event of joy and celebration. If people could feel that way about the birth of a new child then God would certainly feel the same. When Adam and Eve were created they were surrounded by the utmost hope and joy. All the things of creation gave their entire attention to them, including God, looking forward to the day of their accomplishment.

God is infinite in ideal and capacity, and the more broadly God thinks, the more hope He bestows upon His son and daughter. If a parent's vision is big then certainly his expectation for his child is also big. God's hope in Adam was certainly infinite. Such hope is not fleeting; the expectation grows larger with time.

If the parents' hope is great then certainly they pay much attention to what the child may need to fulfill that hope. Is their attention and hope and expectation a good thing or bad thing? Parents would naturally give all kinds of support to their child so he can fulfill their hope some day. When that child finally fulfills the goal in reality it is a great day of hope's fulfillment.

If any individual is conceived and born in hope and raised in hope and finally achieves that hope, then truly that person is most accomplished and happy. No one can expect any better life than that one. When parents who are on their deathbed bring their children to the bedside and give them their will, this is not really a sad moment; this is the very significant moment of transferring that hope to a new generation.

When God created Adam and Eve this universe was filled with hope and all things of creation were celebrating in joy, knowing that their master was finally born. Adam and Eve were the focal point of hope for heaven and God and all things of creation, the very personification of hope. After truly becoming the masters of the creation and fulfilling that goal and expectation as true children of God, what would they do? The day of their accomplishment would be the first time God could really have joy. That would be the first time He could say He was happy. When God can announce that He is happy, it will not mark just His happiness but man's happiness and the elation of all things of creation. If you had joy would you like to keep it just to yourself or would you like to share it with friends and relatives? Joy wants to be celebrated because joy belongs to all.

Everyone wants to have hope, but does harboring hope in itself automatically engender joy? The significant thing is this-when you have hope and want to accomplish it you don't feel joy first, but pain and suffering. Only attempting to accomplish that hope is not going to bring joy to anyone. If all you had to do was sit down and wait for hope to become a reality life would be very easy.

The greater the hope or sunshine, the greater are the obstacles or darkness to overcome. You think of sunshine as being bright because you already recognize the darkness. Because of darkness you can appreciate brightness, and in that position you can conquer darkness. When you can say, "I am alive," you are conquering death at that moment. Death is like a shadow but it cannot prevail because you are alive; your heart is pumping every second and triumphantly defying death.

Who are you? What is your occupation? We Moonies are the messengers of hope. Since God's hope was cut short and dismissed, we want to bring hope back to God. Mankind's hope was severed and we want to bring that hope back to mankind. The hope that originally existed has disappeared because the first man sinned. Because we Moonies are here to restore that hope to God and humanity, we are in a position to be welcomed by God and all humanity of the past, present and future.

When you look at our world outside today, common sense tells you that there cannot be much joy or hope for God and not much of anything which He can take pride in. If that is the case, but you as an individual, church or nation can bring hope to God then you are indispensable to God. You don't have to lead a powerful nation to be needed by God. If you are just one feeble individual yet you harbor hope for God then you are very precious to Him, more than anything else in the world. This world is now living in despair and hopelessness. If in spite of the bleakness you can offer hope to the world then you don't need to have power for this entire world to look at you with great expectation. Throughout history people lived in tragedy and sadness and corruption and any individual who can bring hope to the world and God is certainly precious. It doesn't matter whether that person is a woman or man, as long as that person becomes the hope of God and mankind and history.

If that person goes to Korea then the entire hope of the world also moves to Korea. If that person goes to the southern tip of Africa then the attention of the entire world will move to Cape Town. That person is like a glowing lantern in the darkness of the world, and because the rest of the world is so dark it has to pay attention and follow that light. What kind of group would offer hope for God? If proud Americans found that lantern of hope would they follow it outside their nation? Your nationality wouldn't make any difference because that hope is greater than any national boundary.

Do you know of any individual in history who tried to offer this hope to mankind? Do you know anyone who not only did that but who desperately tried to fulfill that hope for the sake of the world, history and God? A person like Jesus must be that man. Jesus was one individual who truly harbored hope for God and humanity and even gave himself up in desperation to somehow fulfill that hope. Jesus could not build that hope on the foundation of this crumbling world, but had to begin at another place. He could not make any compromise with the world.

At the time of Jesus there was opposition from the state of Israel and the Roman Empire, and people who were sympathetic with Jesus asked, "Why are you so foolish? Why can't you make yourself popular with the authorities?" But Jesus couldn't do that. Because he offered hope for the new world his foundation had to be different. He made up his mind that even though he might die, he could not compromise with the world. That would mean severing the hope of God all over again and Jesus preferred taking the road of death rather than do that. Because of that attitude he preserved the hope of God and hope of humanity. By becoming a sacrifice He moved God so deeply that God felt compelled to somehow make that hope prevail in the world.

God would want to somehow vindicate Jesus before the world which killed him; certainly that must have been God's promise to His son. Jesus died but he left behind the hope of resurrection for God and humanity. Christianity has held up the torch of that hope and the power of God will be found there as long as it holds that hope high because God resolved to His son that his hope would never die. History will definitely be brought back to its origin. As long as God is working in that fashion then there will be no destruction but always victory. Whenever God's people clashed with an evil power God always won a victory in the end.

When you really look closely at Jesus' life you will discover that he was found mostly with people like Peter, the fisherman, who weren't the most brilliant people or the leaders of that time. Externally his life was not one of great accomplishment. How many eyes and ears did Jesus have? Could he look in both directions? Was Jesus the same as you or different? In appearance he was just like you are, so why was God so excited about Jesus? The one important difference is that Jesus represented the hope of God. Without him and his vision there could be no hope for man or God. He had to be a hot item! God wanted and needed someone to represent His hope and Jesus was that man. Second, Jesus represented the hope of mankind. Third, he represented the hope of history. In the past, present and future that hope has never faded and that goal will never change so Jesus has remained the hope of history.

If Jesus had just died then God would have lost His hope and central figure, but neither God nor mankind nor history could sustain such a loss. Therefore, when Jesus died there had to be resurrection. Some hope had to remain, however small. If Jesus had not been crucified then the world's hope would be shining like the sun 24 hours a day, but because of his death it became only a small, twinkling light which few people could see. In addition, the prophecy that he would return changed this world. This is parallel with the Principle and the concept and hope of God's creation.

Once we know the Principle then all things fall into place. Jesus represented the hope of God and Christianity inherited that hope as well as the mission of Jesus. What is the standing of today's Christianity? Could God say, "You Christians are absolutely great. Since inheriting my tradition you are strong and bold"? Can all humanity feel that Christianity is their hope, just as Jesus was their hope? No? Where can God go then? Where can the world go? Where will the direction of history go? God will go on to the ultimate destination and mankind will go on to the ultimate destination. They will never stop. One way or another they will find a breakthrough.

The world in which the hope of God is realized is what we call the Kingdom of God on earth. This is the world where God can feel delight and really smile and laugh in joy; this is also the world where all mankind feels delight and joy and can really celebrate. The Kingdom of God on earth is the ultimate destination of human history. There is no other goal history can have. The Kingdom of God on earth is the ultimate destination of human history. There is no other goal history can have. The Kingdom of God on earth will be the realization of the hope of God, the hope of man and the hope of history, where God and man can be joyful together.

There are not many people who are pursuing this goal on earth, however. Look at the churches; there are many religions here on earth and they have dogmas and credos and hope to acquire some heavenly comfort after death. In contrast, ideologies such as communism proclaim that utopia can be built here on earth without God. There are certainly not many people who are even looking to see whether history has any goad. Where can we find hope for heading toward this goal? Communists insist that history will always make progress by struggle and conflict, in a process they call dialectical materialism. In such a world God has to look with a microscope to find some little group which sparkles like a star in the night sky with hope to see the Kingdom of God here on earth. If He were to ask, "Who are you?" the answer would come back, "We are Moonies."

Do you Moonies really have hope? What is your hope? The Kingdom of God on earth is the place where we can liberate God and bring Him joy, bring mankind joy and bring history joy. Jesus' crucifixion left hope for mankind like a twinkling little light, but would you rather have a brilliant sunshine light of hope? That means that it wouldn't make any difference if you happened to land in hell; you would bring light with you. Hell is no longer hell to you. That is the power you carry with you. In order to sustain the sunshine throughout the day you must become generators of energy. Even when you are sleeping, if God's power is within you then the whole night will be glowing spiritually because of you.

Would you prefer a grade of 100 points or 99.999? What's the difference? As you said, 99.999 is still imperfection, no matter how little the difference is, and the difference between perfection and imperfection is like the difference between heaven and earth. At the finish line of a marathon race the time difference between first and second place may be only one second. Would that tiny difference entitle the number two man to the same honor as the winner? Whatever the difference, perfection is heaven and imperfection is earth. The winner is the winner, period. The significance of being heaven's winner is that if the champion loves hell and wants to make it into heaven then all the people who adore that champion must go down and pay attention to hell too. Even God will say, "You like hell? Well all right, I do too."

Today's Christians are confident that they will be lifted up to heaven to meet the lord while the rest of the world will be thrown into unquenchable fire, but the true champion will say, "God, I don't care about heaven. I want to go down and lift up these people in hell and work with them." Then God will actually make that hellish place heaven. I am convinced that we can even make hell into heaven and I know that God will follow me and together we can do it.

Would you like to have me be the winner, or number two or last? God is looking down at this end-of-the-world race and sees that I have already come 70% of the way. Would God say, "Reverend Moon, aren't you tired? Why don't you relax? You don't have to run that hard." No, God is restless and gripping the rail, waiting for His champion to reach the final goal first. God raised up this champion in the remote countryside of Korea; God's excitement picked up as this country person started his race in Korea and then ran to Japan and the United States and as the whole world started to feel threatened by him. Naturally God is eager to see the end of the race. God always wondered who would run that hard, but He never found any precedent in history.

Just like you, God wants me to be a winner, but what about the world? The world is looking around and can't find much hope, but if people see that there is one champion running hard in the opposite direction and they see some hope in him, would people want him to be a winner or not? Even though you've been persecuted for being Moonies, aren't there people who welcome you and encourage you? People only persecute you because of their ignorance, but once they know the truth greater numbers of people will cheer you on. The only different between you and those people is that you know me.

There was a day when you did not know me and back then you probably thought Moonies were weird people. Here you certainly are weird people, sitting on a cement floor while your long Western legs get sore, but this is all God's smokescreen strategy. Anyone who is seeking his own selfish interest and honor cannot stand it here. This is the best strategy of elimination God could devise because selfish people will eliminate themselves! God wanted the real jewels, not the hypocrites. God wanted real champions sitting here.

A thing which is true will always meet every standard. Do you want to become true Unification Church members or not? Have you met the standard? Some critics might say, "Why does the Unification Church make being a member so difficult? The other churches only ask that a member bring his Bible for an hour on Sunday." Do you want to win great academic honors in school or just take it easy? If you only want easy things then you will end up in despair, but the person who faces difficulty and tries to conquer it and move on always ends up with hope.

You can be either a diamond, crystal or glass; a diamond is hard and brilliant and can etch the glass and crystal and break them. Would you prefer being an expensive item or a cheap item? If an item is expensive it usually shows that its maker poured heart and soul into creating it but something cheap is usually just mass produced.

We are here in the Unification Church to digest the worst kind of ingredient: hell. Do you want to make yourself determined and ready to tackle hell and liberate it, or be like the average Christian who is satisfied with an easy heaven? When I look at your expressions I see that your eyes are happy but your mouths are turned down. Real joy shows when your eyes and mouth smile together. Everything should work harmoniously.

All things are dependent upon you and wishing you well. Because of hope God created you and gave you two eyes. Your nose can't think that he's alone on your face, without much to do with God's hope. Neither can your ears or hands or hair feel unrelated to God's hope. You are the dwelling place of the hope of God and the universe, and when you realize this then you know that nothing else is worth being proud of.

When you were growing in your mother's womb did she care deeply for you, when you were not even born yet? After you were born she took care of the worst kind of chores, bathing you and changing your messy diapers, and all the time you never appreciated her; you just cried out and your mother said, "Here you are my baby. I love you." Do you think you never bothered anybody? Can you even say that your body is really yours? Whose eyes and nose and mouth are they? Ultimately everything belongs to God but in the horizontal sense who gave you that flesh?

You are the end result of your entire lineage. First of all, you are healthy and your body is whole. Did you ever feel grateful to your parents for giving you that healthy body? When you look in your mirror and see that you turned out to be very distinguished looking then your first gratitude should go to your parents. This applies to women too. Sometimes when you look in the mirror you feel pretty good, and then your first gratitude should go to your parents. If you have a talent, it is not really yours because it definitely came through your parents. An artist who paints a great masterpiece must be thankful to his parents for giving him his talent before he is thankful to the public who is honoring him.

Brothers and sisters are the second most important group of people around you. They are your immediate environment and give you encouragement and support. You can be grateful to your teachers for making you a man or woman who is a decent citizen. Everyone must be grateful to nature for loaning them everything for their bodies. Each one of you has three different levels of parents. First is God, who created you and destined you to be. Second are your natural parents because they were the actual instruments to deliver you to this world, and third is nature; because creation loaned you the flesh and bone you have now.

Men are supposed to live lives of gratitude, thanking God first, then their parents and brothers and sisters and teachers and nature. The person who does this is a good citizen, doing his rightful duty. All your surroundings were bestowed upon you in hope and they wish you well, wanting to assist you to be their champion. They want to bestow hope upon you and see that hope realized to their abundant joy.

America's way of life today is totally contrary to this concept and instead of living a life of gratitude people demand things for themselves and then say, "Don't bother me." In the sight of God that way of life is a betrayal. Have you ever looked at yourself as a betrayer? You think about it now since you are asked, but most people never worry about that question. Cynical people would snap, "To heck with my parents, anyway. I didn't ask them to give birth to me. Why do I need brothers and sisters? My teachers are just earning their wages. I owe them nothing." That attitude is a betrayal of hope.

What do I want from you in the Unification Church? Am I only trying to make your life miserable? You are my hope and the hope of God and since God's hope and ideal are high I am trying to inspire and awaken you so you can achieve that hope. You are expected to be true champions of kingdom-building here on earth, to be true sons and daughters of God who will become true masters of the universe, being someone for nature to communicate with. That's your ultimate destination.

Think of the crowds of people at a football game who are watching their favorite team. When the players are battling fiercely to protect the ball, being tackled and chased, the audience is standing up and cheering. The spectators are excited about those champions, wanting them to hold on to the ball and get to the goal. Their team is translating the spectators' desires into action, fulfilling their hope. Of course the spectators will cheer! Suppose the star quarterback looks very miserable because it is raining and the field is muddy and one of his legs is hurt. The more miserable he looks, the greater the cheers become, right? The champion carries the hope of all the people and when their hope is translated into reality they feel joy and excitement.

We are like that football champion to all the many spectators in the universe-spirit world, nature, everyone here on earth-and if we translate their hope into action they will cheer us on. Imagine a spectator who is so ecstatic at how well the champion was doing that his foot gets caught in the pocket of his brand new suit and the coat is ripped apart. Would he restrain himself to keep from ripping that suit even more, or would he shout, "I don't care about the suit! I want to win the game"?

When God is looking at you and seeing that His hope is finally becoming reality then He doesn't care whether His beautiful robe is ripped. He will want to see His champion win more than anything else. Nothing could possibly be as valuable as His hope once it becomes reality. The place where hope is translated into action is the greatest of all. Today America is unquestionably mistreating me but the day will come when the spectators will see that I am their real champion and wherever I go they will welcome me. Those people who so adamantly oppose me now will be equally passionate supporters once they know the truth. Fanatic opposition like that is good because once it is turned around people will give a riotous welcome.

In Revelations it says that it is best to be either hot or cold, and that the worst you can be is lukewarm. Are you hot children of God? Are you internally hot like a sauna bath? If your engine is on inside then you can be sweating even in winter. If you are perspiring like that in winter then you will conquer all kinds of disease because the person who sweats when he works is usually healthy. The person who really perspires when doing productive work, whether summer or winter, will not be really sick except when he is about to die.

America wants you to be her champion and you can translate America's hope into action. Would Americans never want a Moonie to represent America to the world? If you were representing America in an international race of Unification Church members would Americans want to see an American lose?

Americans probably wish that a better champion than Reverend Moon had come out of America because they feel bad to have an Oriental champion. If 1 were American they wouldn't accuse me of brainwashing or enslaving young people, but as it is their egos are hurt. Some people are subconsciously afraid that an Oriental leader like me will try to dominate all other races, while others are certain that I will want revenge on them once I get the chance. They misunderstand me, however. I never taught you to get revenge. I will use all the opposition for the benefit of God, even though their misunderstandings spur people into doing extraordinary things against us.

You are here to translate the world's hope into action and show the world what you really are and who I really am. Do you want to have that hope realized soon or a hundred years from now? God wishes you well and mankind and all nature is wishing you well. They want you to translate your hope into action. Certainly they would be overjoyed to see you become such good men and women, and when people really understand the kind of life you are trying to live they will greatly respect you.

I want you to know that you are standing on the pinnacle of hope. Knowing it is one thing, but do you want to do it or not? Life is so plain and ascetic in the Unification Church that I'm sure you have a dozen things to complain about-the meals you eat and clothes you wear, how hard you work and how you sisters never get a chance to dress up. You don't have to look too far for something to complain about. I know very well the humiliation you feel.

When you are fund raising I know you sometimes feel, "Why do I do this?" Furthermore, at times you are lucky and people donate but sometimes they treat you scornfully. I push you into that position because that is your training. You must know how to evaluate people. You meet all extremes of people out there, including those who are very unkind and make you feel miserable, but you also meet people who appreciate you and inspire you, exclaiming, "We need more people like you in this country!" Where does your memory linger, with the kind or cruel person?

If you just meet good people then you don't realize their value, but when you have met both extremes and then you meet a godly man your heart is so moved that tears fall down your face. God is always like that person; you can meet God through that person. When you meet a cruel man who accuses you but you pray for him with tears instead of yelling back, asking God's blessing upon him, then God will feel sympathetic with you and will bestow blessing upon you. By your prayerful act you are bringing yourself closer to the bosom of God, and you can hear His whisper, "My child, you are truly mine and I am here with you, embracing you." The MFT members face the two extremes every day without complaint, always tasting the tears of God. In doing that they are bringing themselves closer to the bosom of God.

Nothing travels only in a straight line; there is always vibration up and down. You will experience both extremes, the deep valleys and high peaks. It is a destiny that you cannot avoid. We discipline ourselves to go over such hills. Right now most of you are unmarried so you can be single-minded; this is a most fortunate time for you and soon enough the added responsibility of families will be upon your shoulders. As your responsibilities get heavier, how can you prosper and still be a winner? This preparation is the key for you to succeed all along the way. Do you think my responsibility is light or heavy? I have a family of course, but God's responsibility for the world and cosmos is upon my shoulders.

Nobody in the world outside will help you so you must create your own income because no one is going to give it to you. People love to be assisted and you are in a position to help the world. That's the only way the world will be grateful to you, so in order to carry that kind of responsibility you must prepare. No matter how difficult that preparation may be, history and God want you to go on and fulfill.

Look at the situation with our New Yorker, for instance. We are refinishing this forty-story building and last year we finished seven floors. At that rate it will take five years to reach the bottom, maybe more. Should I feel that's OK? I am looking to see if there is some way we can get it done in five months so we don't have to worry about it any more. If everyone puts their resolve together then there's a way of doing it, but otherwise it will take years and years. You are probably thinking, "Uh oh, Father wants to put me to work!"

The theory is simple. Suppose you are sleeping six hours but you sacrifice two of those hours each night. In one year everything could be done. If that is not enough time then what about adding one more hour? I like that idea because only those who really want to love the building will remain behind; everyone else will pack up and get out right away!

One time I discussed the situation with Mr. Pak, who runs the New Yorker, and he made this petition, "Our members are working hard and come in at 1 a.m. after a long day. I just cannot tell them to get down to work painting and scraping. I can't be that cruel." Then I decided to ask the New Yorker, "How do you feel? You heard my idea and Mr. Pak's concern. Which one do you favor?" The New Yorker answered, "I favor your idea. I want to be restored!" That old building is crumbling down and it wants to become like a new bride.

The New Yorker is ailing and sick, but when you get to your room you just want to rest. If you want to sleep then you have to make some compromise with the New Yorker by making some condition of loving it and promising to come back every day and do a little more. The New Yorker has heard so many lectures on Divine Principle that it knows about indemnity conditions, so as long as you set the condition it will have no complaint.

Do you want to have your own room or have a roommate? You probably want a single room, right? If Mr. Pak gives every one of you a single room today then you are responsible to remodel that room in one year. If you restore one room of the New Yorker to perfection then you can always say that the New Yorker is your home and wherever you go you can feel that the New Yorker is welcoming you. You will have a right to eat in the dining room or use the meeting rooms and you won't feel strange because you gave it your hard work.

The New Yorker is going to be our museum in the future. Suppose you have room 1505 and you scrape and paint and remodel it until it is gorgeous. If you bring your future family to the New Yorker, where would you go first? 1505! As far as you are concerned, the New Yorker is 1505. You would show your children all that you did and tell them they must do the same. You are making history because even after you die the work you have done in the building will remain. History will say that I bought the New Yorker and transformed it into the World Mission Center and you will be able to say that you were also part of that. Do you want to be a co-participant with me or not?

If you concentrate on your work as much as you concentrate on your food when you are eating then you will do it in no time. I will go to the New Yorker more frequently now. You never know when I will come and look at what is happening. If anyone says, "I want you to come to my room because I will finish it up first as a wonderful example" then I will definitely come to that room and if it is done well then I may have a banquet for that person.

Each one of you has to make some visible pledge to God. You can write on a piece of paper something like this, "Heavenly Father, I resolve today I am going to make this room a heavenly room for Your glory." Sign it and leave it on your door as a New Year's resolution. Mr. Pak is not going to push you. You are making a covenant with me and this is not an obligation but a privilege. You can raise funds and buy the paint yourself and get carpet. Your clothes may get old and your shoes become worn out but you may want to use your money to buy scrapers and fixtures first because your room is an extension of your body.

Suppose a husband and wife were blessed together who had both restored rooms in the New Yorker. They will decide which room they will stay in by seeing who did the best job in the shortest time, with the most heart. The two of them will have a conference with each other and finally one of them will decide, "I am defeated. Your room is better spiritually so we'll go to your place." You can put your heart into your room, thinking that you are making a model of a sweet home.

The New Yorker is wishing you well. Once we totally restore the New Yorker and bring that hellish place back to heaven then with the same stamina we can restore the entire city of New York. If you give your heart and soul into restoring one room in the New Yorker then you can give even more of that same spirit to restoring one building in New York. Then why not one city after that? By our own hands and sweat America will become a resurrected paradise. Does America want that to happen? The first step is to do your rooms.

You have a little more work to do now, don't you? But that added work will become your pride. If you just come and lie down without doing anything about your room then it will accuse that you have no right to sleep there. Then you will sleep curled up like a shrimp and feel apologetic all night. Do you feel willing or obligated to undertake this project right away?

Today is January 8, 1978. Eight is the number of renewal or new beginning. This is a good day to make a resolution for the new year. Do you resolve to renew your room in the New Yorker this year? In order to not forget this resolution you will see eights everywhere. Two circles together and also two fists together make the number 8. When you look at a spoon you see fifty percent of 8; when you see a clock it will look like half of 8 and you will be reminded of the New Yorker. Can you forget?

The person who finishes his first room can then go on to another room and start all over again. Again, this is not mandatory; it is a privilege and whether you participate or not is up to you. You need this discipline while you are young in order to engage the rest of your life in the most fruitful and productive activity. I go back and forth from New York to Tarrytown all the time and I am always telling New York, "Just wait. I'm busy now on the New Yorker and in a little while I'll come and clean you up. Just wait. The Moonies will all clean you up."

Whatever unselfish thing you do for the sake of others shall remain as your permanent record in spirit world and it will become your asset with which you inherit the Kingdom of God in heaven. Is the normal husband the one who prepares himself to have a family and take care of his bride, or the one who wants a wife who will work and feed him? Hippies are different. They only have their naked bodies and most of them are like animals, only wanting to have fun and let tomorrow take care of itself.

They don't care about tomorrow or about each other; all they have is their carnal desire. Man is the supreme creature, not an animal. He has something beyond the animals-moral concepts and intelligence and an eternal spirit.

Everything depends upon you and all things wish you well. When I pray I hear voices from spirit world shouting, "Hurry up. The time is right to go forward." All the spirit world is wishing you well.

Mankind is wishing you success. The people need salvation and God and humanity are wishing you success so you can bring salvation to mankind.

No matter how difficult a task may be, I want you to gather your utmost resolve to really get up and do it, with no second thoughts. Your final investment is your own life. Do you want to do it? Let's make a pledge by raising hands. Thank you. Let us pray.

God's Day (1978)

Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1978
Manhattan Center
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

As you all know, today is God's Day. The first celebration was conducted in 1968, making this the tenth anniversary and the eleventh celebration.

All nations and every person in this world set aside certain days for celebrations. Certain days of remembrance recall some sorrow but celebration days recall some joy. No one happily celebrates the memory of sorrow, but it is our human nature to want to celebrate joy and happiness.

Let us ask one important question. Has there been some happy day for God in history? As we all know through the Divine Principle, human history started in sorrow and tragedy because of the fall of man and since then God has not seen any happy day for the celebration of joy. The day of the fall was the day God's children died, making it the worst kind of tragedy that God could encounter. Ever since, God has had memories of only sorrow and tragedy.

Initially Adam and Eve were created by God as His own son and daughter and they were to be the prince and princess of the universe. Instead of perfecting themselves in that capacity, however, they fell down from that position to being even lower than God's servants. Unless man can restore himself to his original position there will be no way he can give a day of joy to God. That restoration must include being elevated from the position of enemy to that of servant, adopted son and finally back to being a true son and daughter.

True joy for our Heavenly Father can be accomplished when mankind sees true parents who are installed by God; in other words, men should not only become the sons and daughters of God but ultimately move up to the parent's position, centered upon God. As we all know, mankind has two parts one being man and the other woman, regardless of race and nationality. Men are in Adam's position and women are in Eve's position and because it is God's desire and ultimate hope, all men and women are destined to be perfected in Adam and Eve's position. For this reason it is inevitable that all men and women will go over the obstacle we call the fall of man and then beyond that experience to the level of perfection. This means that each one must deserve God's love even more than Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. We must exceed the level of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Does everyone now deserve God's love beyond that level?

All parents of the world love their own children and kiss and embrace them. Does mankind feel the love of God even more closely than their parents' love? God is anticipating the day when He feels the ecstatic joy that He never felt with Adam and Eve; that is the goal of God's providence. The world of men makes up the world of one Adam and all women the world of one Eve. When God looks at this Adam's group and Eve's group, can He see perfection there, or is there only ugliness for God to see?

When God looks at the world can He completely forget that the people are the descendants of fallen Adam and Eve? Humankind are the descendants of God's enemy, Satan, coming out of the lineage of satanic blood. In this fallen state no one can even be called a child of God. Clearly God must devise some way to bring man back to his original position, so that mankind will not remind Him of the day of the fall.

The problem is, then, how God can forget that day of sorrow, the day of the fall of man. God is a historical God who remembers all events of history. Consequently there is only one way God can erase His painful memories. The one way mankind can achieve that goal is by recreating everything, starting from scratch and remaking the whole thing. That's the only way God can forget the past.

God cannot wipe out Adam's race and Eve's race in order to recreate man, however. God can't disregard His creation and start all over again because God already gave permanence to man's existence. Whether he is perfected or fallen, each person is a permanent creature. The only course left open to God is to devise a way to recreate men by using the old material, a course which is a thousand times more difficult. Nevertheless, God has to take that route.

How can God's children be remade? There is only one way to get to that goal; by starting out in the present and going backwards, reversing events all the way back to the fall of Adam and Eve and then going beyond their creation, back to the very origin which is God's love. Everyone must return that far and then start out on a new journey. The Christian concept of salvation is rebirth, which means going all the way back to the beginning and starting out anew. The Christian concept of salvation means the death of the old self and the birth of a new, resurrected self.

The Bible records the visit to Jesus of a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who asked how people can be saved. Jesus' answer was very clear: "Unless a man be born anew he cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven." Nicodemus was totally puzzled and inquired, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb and be born again? Then Jesus said, "Are you a teacher of Israel and yet you don't understand this?"

Everyone has been born in the position of enemy of God. How can mankind become even the servants who are not of satanic origin? Have you felt that you could be born as a servant on the side of God? You don't know even how to do that much. Then how could you be born again as God's children? Reaching the servant level on God's side is just the initial state of restoration, but the servant cannot inherit the master's fortune. A servant has no right of inheritance; therefore, each person must next be elevated to the adopted son's position.

Christians all hope to be born again as adopted sons of God but they do not know what the process is. Even so, they still crave this salvation. In knowing God's ideal it is clear that He wanted to love men and women, not as adopted sons and daughters but as direct sons and daughters.

Do you want to be direct children of God? You don't even know how to be born again as adopted sons and now you crave direct sonship. Naturally fallen mankind could not know the whole process of salvation. That's why God promised the Messiah to guide the way. God knows that no one has any way of knowing the truth without meeting the true son of God as an example and model.

Who is the Messiah? The Messiah is completely united with the heart of God, like a direct import to earth from heaven. When God sent Jesus to be the Messiah, did He just take him as a baby and place Him on earth, or did He at least have to utilize the body of a woman for him to be born? Jesus was born of Mary, so Mary must be God, right? Did Mary have her own parents here on earth or did she drop out of the sky? Since Mary had parents, she must also be a descendant of the fallen lineage. Even though Mary also came from fallen parents there must be proof that she had nothing to do with the fallen lineage.

Without going into the whole process of how Mary was isolated from sin, we will say that Jesus was conceived without sin. Without having an entirely different beginning, there was no other way that Jesus could be a Messiah, a begotten son of God. Before Jesus' birth a tremendous dispensation was developed for thousands of years to open the way to the servant's level, adopted son's level and son's level. All three levels of rebirth are necessary, and though this hidden side of the dispensation was not revealed to mankind it was fact nonetheless. No historian, theologian, rabbi or minister ever knew the concealed truth on the side of God. God worked in a hidden way, making meticulous preparation so that man could be born again on those three levels. As a result, Satan had no way to claim Jesus, even while he was still in Mary's womb.

Compare this situation to that of a great minister in this country, like Billy Graham for instance. He and his wife believe in Jesus and God very strongly. Considering the strong faith of his parents, would their child still need a savior? Could he go right into heaven without salvation? Don't you think God would favor their child with special recognition because the father was a great evangelist? What's the difference between Jesus and any other child with physical parents? The only difference is historical time; on the surface the parents may look the same but their backgrounds are entirely different. Mary was a historic figure. Throughout thousands of years of history God and Satan bargained and struggled and finally reached an agreement even before Mary herself came into being. God knew that He had to use a woman's body to have His son born on this earth and in order to have that one woman ready God prepared for thousands of years.

Through many women before Mary, God worked to set the condition for Mary to have no stigma of satanic influence. Practically speaking, how many years did God take to prepare this one woman to be mother of the Messiah? The Bible counts 4,000 years, which represents a symbolic time, but counting in the physical way it took millions of years.

Why would it take 4,000 biblical years if God is truly almighty? This shows how formidable a task it was to wipe out the consequences of the fall of man, even for God. After that long ordeal of millions of years God finally saw His own son conceived in his mother's womb. An ordinary baby takes nine months to come into our world, but this one Messiah took millions of years. Can you imagine God's infinite delight at having that particular baby growing in his mother's womb? Furthermore, at the same time God was proceeding with the external providence to protect that one most precious baby. For this purpose God created first a tribe and ultimately the chosen people and nation to be a shield around this precious child. When we know how meticulous God's preparation was internally to prepare one woman to be the mother of the Messiah and externally to create one chosen nation to protect him, and then finally to see that very people crucify the Messiah on the cross and hear many people today teach that those events were the will of God, we can glimpse how outraged and agonized God must be!

Today's Christians simply do not know even one ounce of the sorrow of God. They have never really understood the role of the Messiah or what God is feeling right now. Until the day comes when people here on earth realize God's heartbreak and come to comfort Him there is no way God can be vindicated or fully relax.

Reverend Moon has made the truth known to mankind, and without him this particular hidden secret would have remained hidden. Without mankind knowing this truth there is no way God can be comforted or liberated. Even though God set up all the providential conditions for the Messiah to be born of Mary, once the Messiah comes he has to physically walk each step himself, allowing people to see and follow him as the prototype. He must manifest the entire dispensation in his own lifetime.

Jesus stood as the personification or consummation of the God-centered servant. Furthermore, Jesus was the personification of the God-centered adopted son, and he was truly the personification of the true son of God. It was essential that he consummate these three stages in himself first. As a representative of God, Jesus was to be a perfected person and love his perfected family. In order to do that he was to marry and create the first family base here on earth, expanding it into a society, nation and world, loving that world as he loved himself. After doing all of that he would be qualified to love God in the ultimate sense. Without going through this process he would not qualify to truly love God.

Without ever seeing him, how do you know whether Jesus was a man? According to the Divine Principle God created both man and woman, with man to be subject. Man was in a position to reach perfection first and also to recreate woman. That was the position of Adam. Definitely Jesus came as the second Adam so he must be a man.

How about Eve, where did she come from? Out of the jungle? Is that the way Eve came into being or did God actually create her? The Bible says God stole one rib out of man's side and molded it into a woman.

What does it actually mean that God pulled a rib out of man? It means that God molded woman by His own hand, using man as the example, making her slightly different so they would complement each other. For example, because God gave man a beard He made woman with smooth skin. Even their voices are different, with men's voices capable of loud volume while women's are lighter and sort of fragile. If a choir could only sing in one unison tone it could not make good music, but men's and women's voices together create the harmony and beauty of music. Since Adam was masculine and strong God made Eve as beautiful as the flowers and very feminine. Imagine if God had made both men and women muscular, heavy and broad-shouldered. God knew the needs of each and made them to complement each other.

Some people ask why the Unification Church men cut their hair so short. The answer is very simple-men have short hair and women have long hair to complement each other. In today's world you have a hard time distinguishing men from women. Many times I have tried to figure out whether a person with long hair and smooth skin was a man or woman, particularly in wintertime when everyone wears heavy coats. Sometimes by looking at their shoes and way of walking I could tell, but nowadays that doesn't always work because men have high heels and women have flat heels! All that similarity is against God's principle. God wanted men and women to be different and to complement each other. In the Unification Church you have no problem telling men from women.

Have you ever thought about why women wear high heels? I think it is because God intended women to walk with small steps and not take giant strides, while men wear flat shoes because God wanted men to walk differently. This also shows that God wanted women to be horizontal or more earthly and men to lift their vision up high and look at God and walk like God. The manner of walking is very significant; a man who has great ambition, vision, will and discipline has a telltale stride. When we know the Divine Principle there is a reason for everything we do, even for looking clean-cut.

Today is truly God's day. In the Orient it is customary to celebrate a man's 60th birthday very elaborately, but the most important part of that celebration is to know his history beforehand. In order to truly celebrate God's Day we must first know what kind of person God is and also His historical background. It took God 4,000 biblical years to prepare for the Messiah and God naturally wanted to have a total victory in that particular time, liquidating all past debts and recreating the brand new world He intended, all at the time of the Messiah.

The Messiah must be victorious in order to pave the way for the victory of mankind. If Jesus were a man, should he have been a bachelor all his life? After God created Adam He said it was good, but not good enough; it wasn't until God created woman for Adam that God said it was very, very good. If God were this pleased after creating Adam, how much more joyful would He be with creating Jesus after such a long, long ordeal? Since God wanted Eve for Adam in the Garden of Eden, doesn't it make sense that God wanted an Eve for Jesus'? I want clergymen everywhere to reconsider whether God wanted Jesus to die a bachelor and hang on a cross in that tragic manner. How cruel Christianity is to look at a person dying and say that it is the will of God. Our way of understanding is truly more logical.

What did Jesus need to do before he restored his children, his nation and the entire world? Sometimes I am amused by the content of English. "Evening" is what you call the late hours of the day. That word comes from the name "Eve," and means continually searching after Eve. The morning is the time of awakening and new realization, so morning is the symbol of man and evening is the symbol of woman. First Jesus needed to search for Eve; the Bible clearly says that Jesus came as bridegroom, to search for a bride. Many people think, "How blasphemous! How could you say such a thing? Jesus was a saint, and saints should not even look at women."

What is the definition of a saint, however? Do they have upside down eyes or an upside down nose and mouth? No, saints don't look any different from you. The only difference is in their loving the people and the world the way God does. That's the definition of a saint. The fall of man came from self-love and selfishness, but the love of a saint is very sacred.

Today the Unification Church is proclaiming that the time has come to meet the bride and bridegroom. Up to now religious orders have concentrated on living an ascetic, celibate life, but recently many nuns and priests have left that life. The New Age has come. History has come to a different dispensational age and whoever persists in believing in that way of life has a difficult time ahead of him because the will of God is being found elsewhere. At the same time, the established churches have a different kind of problem in becoming too permissive. Some churches are like fraternities, sponsoring dances and parties. The Unification Church stands in between to coordinate these extremes with the will of God.

God wanted to have Jesus marry and have a home and children. Together with his children he could have expanded to a society and nation and world which was one family of God. Then the praise of God would have been heard from the entire earth; that sound would have echoed and resounded in the spirit world, and the spirit world and physical world together would have been joyful in celebration. After the Messiah fulfills God's will, he will have a day of celebration and dancing. The Messiah will dance and the whole universe will dance with him. Even God will come down and be everyone's partner, dancing together. That's the way God wants it done on God's Day.

Jesus could not obtain that day for God and his mission was left undone. Therefore, the Bible proclaimed that there would be another day of the Messiah. Christians today are also waiting for the Messiah, looking up in the sky and believing that the lord is coming on the clouds of heaven. They all think we in the Unification Church are crazy people for disagreeing with them, but God knows that their expectation is a crazy idea.

God's agony was unimaginably deep when the Messiah's mission ended in tragedy in Israel, but in these last 2,000 years God has worked harder than before and finally the day of the Messiah is come. Would God be happier than before to see the day finally dawn? As soon as God sees the day of the Messiah He can forget His initial 4,000 years of suffering because His last 2,000 years of struggle were so deep and severe. That is how much God suffered.

In these last 2,000 years Christianity has been God's champion, but because Jesus was killed Christianity has endured martyrdom and bloodshed. One person after another was killed, but God could not strike back or speak out. Because people have not understood why God could not take action they rage, "What kind of God are You? There is no God!" Today there is even a theology that proclaims that God is dead.

Why is God silent? Why does God seem so weak and vulnerable? If the Unification Church is truly God's champion today, why doesn't God do something about all the opposition in America? This kind of question is not new; Jesus' followers could not understand how the Messiah could be killed.

Why didn't God prevent Jesus' death 2,000 years ago? God cannot intervene. If God ever intervened in the dispensation, man's honor and dignity would be nullified. It was man who fell, so man must restore himself to perfection; if God did it in place of man then no one could ever be His son or daughter and represent His creative image. Furthermore, God's right and duty is to give blessing and benediction and love, not punishment and judgment. That is God's law and in order to be like God we must follow that law.

Once Jesus was perfected, do you think God would limit his kingdom to just a few miles around Jerusalem? People marvel at the biblical stories about Jericho, Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee in Israel, but today you can travel around the entire country in a couple of hours by car. God's goal for the Messiah 2,000 years ago was not limited to just Israel. That nation was to be the birthplace of the Messiah, but God wanted the victorious Messiah to advance to the empire of Rome, which represented the world at that time. Suppose for a moment that Jesus had gone to Rome. The proud citizens there would have looked at him even more scornfully than the American people today are scornful of us. In spite of that, Jesus would have walked with the pride of being the son of God.

After the first Messiah failed to totally consummate the Kingdom of God here on earth, God knew that the second Messiah would need a new environment. For that purpose God worked for 2,000 years to set up one landmark achievement, the creation of democracy. Here in America you have a democracy which upholds rights guaranteed by the Constitution, including the rights of free speech, assembly and freedom of religious belief. That was God's most important preparation for the coming of the Messiah. If this nation did not guarantee religious rights, could I freely preach like this? Would I be safe in this country? Even with its democracy there has been some religious martyrdom in America..

Who am I? I am a teacher first of all, and I wanted to come here to teach and make a dark world brighter. Because I know where God is and which direction He is taking, you and I together will not fail to meet the Messiah and meet God. With this firm conviction I can lead you over mountains and through jungles, no matter how rugged the journey may be, and even though your body hurts I will pull you without reservation to get to that terminal where you will find the kingdom waiting.

I can have no mercy upon you because compared to God's suffering for so many thousands of years our suffering to reach out for God is small. Who did God suffer for? For you. God suffered for me and He is my Father, so for Him I can suffer too. Even if your arms or legs give out and if you must crawl on your belly, you must go.

Even though the world and especially the United States is antagonistic, am I scared and nervous and looking for a hiding place? The greater my opposition, the farther I like to stick my neck out. Who actually started this battle, me or my opposition'? God did. God started the whole thing because He wanted to see that one showdown battle between the Messiah and the world.

There is a tug-of-war going on between Reverend Moon and the United States, but the prize is the children of America and the world; the United States does not want to lose them and I want to get them for God. Deprogramming, kidnapping and all kinds of conflict have stirred up America, but today you and I know who has won that battle. We have not only won the children, now we are winning their parents! Parents are starting to look around and see that things in the Unification Church look very good and soon they will realize, "I'd like to stay a little while!" Their friends may say that they've been brainwashed but the parents will respond, "What are you talking about? You've been brainwashed!"

Realistically speaking we are fighting a match in a boxing ring. Usually if there is no knockout by the fifteenth round the judge will add points together and decide who is the winner, but in our match we have no limit of fifteen rounds. We will go on until finally we knock Satan out. In our battle the match doesn't end if one fighter drops dead; another champion will come out and keep boxing in his place.

If I am fighting for God's side and then I die would you just say. "Oh, that's too bad. Our champion is gone"? Or would you yourself become the champion and slug it out until you finally knock Satan to the ground? If we were a political organization no one would feel that serious, but because we are a religious organization our conviction will spur us on. Therefore, the end of Reverend Moon is not the end of the movement.

If the State Department thinks that getting rid of Reverend Moon will be the end of all the commotion and controversy, they are wrong. If I ever left America, God would raise up 100 or 1,000 stronger Reverend Moons to fight on and finish the task. It's not going to be easy to push me aside. Without the background and spiritual power I have behind me I would never have dared to wage this battle in America.

Are you Americans or are you citizens of the Kingdom of God? Yes, before you are Americans you are God's children. Even though it's difficult and your natural parents strongly oppose this work, would you go this route and finish the task? If this nation despised you like a beggar would you still finish the task? The only reason we can continue is that the cause which we champion is so priceless that nothing under the sun can be compared to it. Furthermore, when we realize how much our Heavenly Father suffered to prepare for the Messiah then nothing else matters. Death is not a problem; controversy is not a problem. The opposition of nations is not important. That's the value of God's love.

God wants to have His day of victory, and once He has it He will never release it. God has suffered so much that on that one day His joy will be endless; on that day God will become crazy Himself! Then He can forget all His past suffering. Think of being loved by that crazy God in that precious moment. Lovers today try to show their love by hugging and kissing, but that cannot be compared to God's elation when He has His one day of victory. When His own children achieve that goal and bring comfort and liberation to God, He will be crazy in joy and the world will be crazy in joy.

Jesus' parable of the prodigal son demonstrates this. There was a son who wanted to take his inheritance and leave home. He went far away and squandered everything he had and became so destitute that he had to feed pigs to survive. Finally with a repentant heart he decided to return home. His father had compassion and ran to embrace him. His elder brother, however, condemned him and complained at their father's generosity, but the father's joy at his son's return had no limit. If even a prodigal son was welcomed that much by his father, how much more will God welcome you, not as a prodigal son but as a loyal, faithful son who has given his life for the restoration of God's Kingdom? When on the day of homecoming you walk to God's throne, how much more will God welcome you?

My only desire is to see God feeling that joyful. I have been crying out for my Father, trying for so many years to liberate God. I have come a long way and my journey is almost ended. When I started out from the mountains of Korea I was opposed by my own people but I survived. Then I went to Japan and that nation was thrown into turmoil. The communists have been trying to eliminate me but I survived and now I am here in America. The entire world opposes me but I have already been victorious. I am not the one who started this battle; God started this battle. God made my victory in Korea and Japan and in America and I want you to know that the same God will finish the task with the ultimate victory.

Today is God's Day and we truly want to celebrate this day with limitless joy for God. This is the meaning of the day, bringing joy to God. You know the historical God and His past suffering of 2,000 years and 4,000 years. You know that God was suffering and unhappy. No one else outside our Church knows this. If you have really listened to this message today and you take it at face value and live it, then you are really men and women who know God. You not only know God, you also know Jesus and his suffering. You also know the martyrs and saints who suffered for the sake of God; they are no longer strangers to you. This celebration ought to be a celebration upon the foundation of understanding God. Furthermore, you know the future. You have a vision of the ultimate victory and you know how it is going to be consummated.

The God's Day celebration is the ultimate day of celebration, for God's Day was set up last. Parents Day came first, then Children's Day and then Day of All Things. For the ten years since the establishment of God's Day we have advanced from being a movement of small scope to a worldwide movement. In ten years we have made history.

Having this very event in the Manhattan Center this morning is a dream of God realized. Ten years ago no one would have dreamed of seeing all races and nationalities and cultural backgrounds gathered here together, celebrating with one heart and understanding, under the True Parents. This in itself is a sign of victory.

There have been many great religious leaders in history, but none went beyond the national level because persecution became so great in their own lifetimes that they never had the chance. But under the utmost persecution I have pushed open the way to the worldwide level, winning step by step. In this respect I am victorious and unique in history. Even under opposition the Unification Church has grown this much, but suppose one nation had welcomed me with open arms; what would have happened then? That nation would have become invincible. Any nation which accepts this ideology as its national goal shall rise up to such a height that it will even liberate America. The world could have been liberated by now if that had happened.

Suppose I were a white man and spoke English as my native tongue. America would never have thought about deporting me. Americans would have been proud to have a native hero. Furthermore, instead of kidnapping their children parents would push their children to go to workshops! You could protest to God for having me be an Oriental and demand, "Why couldn't he have had white skin?" Would God say, "It slipped my mind. I just didn't think of it"? God thought about it before you did. If I were a white man who became a formidable power in America, the rest of the world would tremble in fear that America would swallow them up. If I were a black man instead then there would never be a chance to end the racial conflicts between black and white. The black people would have been happy to have a champion and hero but the white people would still be hostile. If I were white, the black people would not feel free to unite with me; the polarization would become too wide.

There are significant reasons that I should come from Korea. Korea is an innocent country which has never invaded any others in the past. Nobody would feel threatened by Korea. If I were Chinese then both Russia and America would feel threatened, as well as the whole Western world. If I were Japanese then the rest of the world would remember Japan's ruthless imperialism over all Asia.

It is characteristic of the Korean people to be outstanding individually, but to the world they are known for never uniting! God already planned how to use that quality; the rest of the world would relax and say that you could just forget about Koreans as a threat because they never unite. Amazingly enough, however, this divided and feeble nation has somehow maintained its own identity and culture for 5,000 years. Korea is now becoming a first-class world citizen and Japan and America are beginning to feel the competition. God thought a great deal about which nation I should be born in, and I like His choice.

The yellow race has an important role as a mediator between black and white; only a yellow person can tell blacks and whites, "You are my brothers and you don't have to fight. Let's be friends. " Everybody will nod and listen to this mediator.

Do you know why we have the MFT? The Unification Church is always doing impossible tasks, like fund raising and witnessing, and these things will teach the white people in our movement the power of endurance. By receiving humiliation while fund raising they will become tougher and never easily give up in the future. With that kind of training a new American character can be formed American young people are characteristically impatient and short-tempered; they cannot wait patiently for results. But you are becoming different Americans, who can endure and hang on. Once we make up our minds to do something then we hang on until the last.

There are three crises facing the world. First is the degradation of young people, whose moral standards have sunk very low. The day is even coming when popular sentiment will favor anarchy. Already people are asking, "Why do we need government or City Hall? We are free. We want to live our own way. We don't need our parents." This crisis is already in our midst. Many Americans don't have any attachments to their family or nation, and if they don't value even their own nation or home, how could they love the world'? Do these people have any religion? This is a second crisis. The third crisis is the threat of communism, which is infiltrating every cell of society and corrupting it. We must rise above all these crises and become a living remnant. We are different from hippies and yippies because we must be the remnant which will go in the opposite direction from the rest of the world. We have the ideal for the family, society, nation and world, and this is the only way we can ward off anarchy.

We value patriotism but we are going beyond that and loving the world. We take a passionate stand against communism because communists are trying to take over the world. When we rise above all these crises we will automatically become the saviors of the world. If we are the only group to rise above the crises then naturally we are the people to liberate the world from its misery.

No matter how logical this all sounds, if it is only my theory then we would inevitably fail, but we are not going to fail because it is God's theory. God wants to contract out this mission. The march forward is not going to be easy because there are chains binding your legs; each step is going to be a desperate one but we are going to make headway.

I want you to realize how different you are from the world outside our Church. You have already tasted life in the everyday world and you don't want to go back. Our job is a tearful one but we have vision and our feet are planted on the firm ground of hope. Our reality may be tearful but we have hope.

The little Japanese women have an advantage because when the wind blows they can fly instead of walking! Do all you women, even the little Japanese women, want to go on? Who inspired you to say yes? Because God made you say yes, giving your answer is a great honor and glory. God is concerned with the well-being of each one of you, smiling upon you right now to see your bright young faces. God is happy in looking at you because your hearts are burning with zeal to do God's will in 1978.

You must feel, "God, there is nothing I cannot do for Your happiness. Trust me and let me go on in 1978; You will see the result." No matter how impossible is the route ahead, you can feel that if you kick the rock blocking your road that it is not your leg which will hurt, but the rock which will be broken into pieces. That's the kind of conviction you should have.

God will be happy to issue the mandate to go ahead in the new year. Would you like to think about it a few days and wander around, or would you be like a rocket of desire and shoot straight up high? Whoever will go straight up like a rocket and land on the moon will be known as a Moonie, but landing on the moon is not even the ultimate destination. We can leap once again and go around the sun; then we will become Sunnies. But even that is not the ultimate destination. We will lift off once again and go right to the heart of God, and since He is king of the universe, we will become Kingies.

New York is too small for true Moonies or Sunnies. You must feel that America is too small. Neil Armstrong from Apollo 11 landed on the moon. You will never become a real Moonie unless you have a strong arm which will pledge to God; the arm is a symbol of marching. Do you have strong arms? We not only need arm-strong, but also leg-strong so we can leap and jump.

At the outset of this new year can you pledge this year as the year of leaping and marching? God bless you. Thank you.

The Basic Formula for the Realization of the Kingdom of God on Earth

Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1978
World Mission Center
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

At this time we are gathered to celebrate the New Year, and to begin 1978 we are going to project our new goal in a slogan. As you all know, our primary mission is to establish the Kingdom of God here on earth and there is no more important responsibility for all of us than to realize how important that is. The slogan for the year of 1977 was "The Kingdom of God on Earth and the Ideal Family." Our slogan for the new year is "The Basic Formula for the Realization of the Kingdom of God on Earth."

What I am talking about here is the method for realizing the Kingdom of God on earth. In order to form a nation, there must first be a sovereignty, then a people and a territory. In talking about the Kingdom of God on earth we must think about who is to be the sovereign. Indeed God is sovereign over the kingdom. Then who are His people? All people are supposed to be the citizens of that kingdom. What is the territory? The entire earth is the territory God planned for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now let us look at our own world. Is this the world over which God is reigning? Is this the world in which all people are the citizens of the kingdom? The answer is no, God is not the master of this world yet. Look at America, for instance. God is certainly not the final authority for this nation and the American people cannot be said to be directly connected to God. Even on the smaller scale of church denominations there is not one whose members are totally centered upon God.

All the churches on earth are claiming that God is the ruler and king, but is that a reality in their everyday lives? It is not so. There are hundreds of denominations within Christianity and sectarianism prevails in that faith today, even though Christians are supposed to be brethren in God. Since there is fighting over private interests in the churches, could the true God reign under those circumstances?

There is no denomination over which God can fully take control and do anything He wants to do, whose members live totally in obedience to God. If God has an ideal to fulfill here on earth, what kind of church or denomination would He be looking for? God has to look for at least one dot, one unit here on earth which can be the basic starting point of His kingdom. That unit is one family. In that family the father and mother must be totally one with God, and the children must be totally united with their parents. That's the kind of family God is looking for. You are all members of families, but when you each look at your own family can you say that it is totally one with God? Where can God go if He cannot use your family? God will narrow His goal and look for one individual. God has to begin somewhere in order to fulfill His ideal and to do that He must at least be able to find one person whom He can confidently call His son here on earth.

Each of you is an individual. Can you say, "God, certainly I am the one who can be Your base here on earth in the absolute sense. Your benefit is mine and mine is Yours"? Twenty-four hours a day God is looking for the one day of the fulfillment of His ideal here on earth. Are any of you following that pattern? If you are not as absolutely dedicated as God in pursuing that goal then you are not qualified to be His representative, and that means that the realization of the Kingdom of God is an empty slogan.

Where in the world can God find His base for the realization of His kingdom'? What is the formula to establish the Kingdom of God on earth? In other words, where can God dwell?

Certainly we can say that God needs a nation which He can love, as well as a society and a family and an individual with whom He can dwell. The formula is very simple. Wherever a people or nation or individual love God, that's the place God can stay. Wherever God finds love God can make Himself at home. Are you such an individual?

Is the road of love a straight road or a crooked road with twists and turns? Do you think you can say there is an East and West and North and South in love? Because God is the center of everything, love is the center so everyone looks at it.

What does it mean to love God? What would you do to love God? Is it enough merely to say you love God, or is it coming to the New Yorker for the first moment of the New Year to hear an important message? Is that the way you say, "I love God"? To qualify to love God you must first become a person who is born of God as an extension of His own lineage. Love really does not take too much explanation. Did nation. Did your father and mother need a manual to know how to love their own child? Parents love their children simply because they are an extension of themselves. You are qualified to be loved by your parents simply by being part of their direct bloodline. By the same token, to be able to love God and be loved by God you must be part of God's own lineage.

We must be born of God and in God's love receive life. Life that comes from God is a gift. From Him we inherit the capability of loving God as God loves us and we also inherit the right to live as long as God and in the manner that God lives. For whom was that life and love given? For whom should that way of life be extended? For whom were all those inheritances given? These are simple questions. The very best answer starts with the realization that there was a reason you were created and that God has that reason, not you. You cannot be born for yourself. You were born because God wanted to fulfill His ideal. Simple speaking, you were born to love God. I was not born for myself but for the love of God, as the fulfillment of God's love. Without us God cannot fulfill His ideal, no matter how almighty He may be.

In my search for the true meaning of life the hardest question I had to struggle with in those years of meditation and prayer was understanding what was the cause and reason for the universe. What is the core of the world of existence and relationship? That's the question that I dwelt upon in most of my life of searching for the truth. The answer was simple. The trunk line of the universe is the father-son relationship in love. This particular formula and truth can be applied to God and man, where the relationship should be one of father and son united in one love.

Going back to what I said at the beginning of this message, in looking around at our world we cannot find the environment of God's heavenly kingdom on earth, even at the level of the society, family or individual. Then where can we start? God wants to start with the individual so somehow we must make a relationship with this individual love of God. Is it simply a matter of looking up at the sky and declaring, "God, here I am. You love me"? The answer is not that simple.

You must present yourself as the dwelling place of the love of God, and in order to do that you must have your true conscience and your true body totally united. Why do I say true conscience and true body? I want to show that they must be unchangeable and permanent, with no increase and decrease. What about your own mind, is it always going in all directions, constantly changing? If so it means that your mind is not true yet. We must anchor it so that nothing can change it. Does gold have value only when it is used for a king's crown and not when it rests in a dirty place? Is gold tarnished and corrupted by its surroundings? No, it always continues to be pure gold. Gold is a true metal in this sense.

Do you have a gold mind? When you have lots of fun and joy you can easily answer yes, but when you face difficulties the answer is not so certain. You can judge for yourself whether you are men of God or not. If your mind is always changing and keeps thinking of something else then I want you to know that you need a true mind.

What about the body? It changes more than the mind! If you don't have a true mind or body yet, when can you expect the love of God to dwell in you? Suppose the love of God forms the upper portion of your body, while your mind is one leg and your body is the other leg. If one leg keeps changing its direction and the other also keeps changing its direction, the love of God just has no place to stay! How can love maintain its position upon such a feeble foundation?

For fallen mankind the most important question is how to acquire an unchanging true mind as an individual, as a member of society and of the nation, and as a member of the world. How can we each acquire a trustworthy mind? The mind needs some guidelines in the form of ideology or teaching which can help it realize how man should live. We have to show our minds the right direction.

Suppose your body became the dwelling place of God's love and then you later started your family. Would you change or not? How about when you advanced to the level of society? As long as your true mind does not change, the love of God would not change either. Once you secure the love of God in your body then wherever you move and in what ever level you dwell your true mind would not change and the love of God dwelling in you would not change. When you move up to the Kingdom of God in heaven where the love of God prevails you are already a recipient of that love so nothing is different.

Wherever the love of God dwells there is always unity because we are talking about one God, not several. When you move away from the love of God you can't talk about unity because there is none. For whom do you love in the Kingdom of Heaven? Who is the center of that kingdom, yourself or God? Is your thinking parallel with God's thinking? If you are firmly attached to God do you have freedom? Don't you feel that God is the big boss and you are always small potatoes in heaven because you always have to come under Him? Perhaps you don't like that idea too well so how about this: you and God are one but sometimes you are under God and sometimes you are over God. How do you like that? I like the second choice too. Compare this to our life on this earth. How would you like having nothing but daylight twenty four hours a day?

Is your hair part of you or not? If someone pulled your hair you wouldn't say, "Why did you pull that hair?" You would say, "Why did you pull my hair?" because it is you that they're pulling, isn't it? That hair is you, but once it comes out it is no longer you. Apart from you it is simply a dead object, but as long as it stays in your head and you can comb it and see it in the mirror it's still you. Your hair dwells within the realm of your love and your life and is under your control. The thin hairs on your head enjoy the same love as any other portion of your body, just like your eyes or fingers, because they are connected to the body.

Could you take out your mind and show it to me? Can you reasonably ask where your mind is? The answer is, wherever God dwells your mind dwells. In other words, your mind can dwell wherever the love of God dwells. Wherever you live, centered upon God, there your mind also is at home. Because God can be everywhere the mind can be everywhere. Wherever God's life dwells, wherever God's love dwells, wherever God's way of life exists, there is the dwelling place of your mind.

Do you have a hometown where you grew up and enjoyed your young days? Some portion of your mind still lingers in that place and you miss your I parents. Is that right or wrong? You have such feelings because you and your parents are linked in life and your hometown is connected with your way of life.

Why did you ever leave your hometown? Actually your ultimate destination is the place where you can find better love or more love. In other words, you are making a journey because you are searching after stronger love. Your mind is always free to maneuver and run faster toward the better way of life and love. Your mind constantly pursues that goal.

Why is your mind so restless? The journey of your mind has not ended since it is in search of perfection-the perfection of life, the perfection of love, the perfection of a true way of life. When a higher way of life is to be found, the mind is constantly striving upward. The person on that journey is a happy person.

When children grow up they normally get married and leave home, and naturally it is a sad day for their parents. Yet at the same time parents know that their children are journeying toward a higher way of life and love. When children are growing up in their parents' home they only know about their parents' love, but when they are grown up they learn about the conjugal love of husband and wife and later when they have their own children they will start to love as parents. In that way they elevate their experience.

Perhaps you have seen a father and mother fighting, but did you ever see them fighting over loving their children more than each other? A mother sometimes falls in love with her child and loves him so much that she forgets her husband. Her children are her life to the point where she almost pushes her husband away. Normally her husband would not get mad and kick her out but be glad to see the intensity of her love.

Love always tends to advance from loving as a child to the conjugal love of marriage and to parental love. The process of elevating this experience of love is welcomed. That is its natural course and normally it would not be met with jealousy because everyone is going after the same higher goal. Why is this true? That is the way you come to resemble God and feel closer to Him. You can enjoy the total experience of all God's love. God wanted to have children so that He could love them and smile and laugh when they in turn responded to His love and returned glory to Him. When God smiles and laughs it can be felt by the entire earth.

Would God ever reach the point of enjoying His happiness so much that He would restrict Himself and say, "I'm laughing too much. I want to stop right here. No more"? Would you say instead that God has limitless laughter? When God begins to smile and enjoy the dancing and singing, the entire universe will respond and feel His joy. God is almighty and absolute in the sense that once God finds absolute love and joy He would never want to return to the grief and sorrow of the past. God wants to amplify His joy.

God has not shouted out in whole-hearted laughter yet; therefore, mankind has mostly felt the agony of sorrow and contradiction and conflict. Everyone has felt some conflict inside, with the explosion of love and joy yet to come. Did you come to the Unification Church to fund raise or to sell newspapers? Is that your ultimate goal? When I look at your faces I feel sad for you because even on New Year's Day when most everyone is resting you have to deliver newspapers in the early morning.

If there had been no fall, everyone would have been born of God and entitled to His love and in living would have expanded that way of life. That was the original purpose of our lives. We didn't begin that way but we are restoring ourselves into that position. Today we each need to practice living as a child of God, giving our lives to others. How much you practice the love of God for others and inherit His way of life is the ultimate criterion.

First you must each realize that you are a child of God and then you must practice God's way of life. In selling newspapers you are not just going after a few dollars. Rather, your inward purpose is to disseminate God's way of life and God's love. You are living God's life and whatever you do and wherever you go your entire purpose is to live as God, giving His way of life and His love.

What we are doing here in the Unification Church is making a total investment, without any reservation. Commercially speaking it's a foolish way of doing business, to do so much for God without receiving any honor or recognition for your unselfishness. Yet we know that it is all worthwhile nonetheless; whether someone gives you recognition or not, no one can take away your value. Total commitment and total service will be rewarded many times over because that is the way the universe operates.

What would happen if you gave your whole love for the sake of others and made yourself totally empty? Just like air rushing into a vacuum, the love of God would rush into you like a storm. You have that guarantee and for that reason you don't have to seek for recognition or hear someone else say you are great. God will always reward you. If you send your true heart and love out into the universe, do you think evil or greater good will come back to you?

Why is God like that and why is the universe like that? I want you to know that the universe is made up of horizontal and vertical, and thus if you are giving everything you can horizontally, then automatically the universe will reimburse you in a vertical way. When you only look at the horizontal, however, you are a loser. Electricity reflects the nature of the universe very well. When you create an absolute minus, no matter how much you try to keep the plus away it will automatically come and react with the absolute minus.

Why did God create both men and women? Women are beautiful, like flowers, so why should ugly men even be necessary? God created both because He is clever. No matter how pretty women are, they only represent minus and God knows there must be a plus. Without both of them the human species would become extinct. Here in America women are taking over positions that used to be held only by men, feeling that they have a right to equal sovereignty, but no matter how they look down on men they cannot change being women.

Even feminine features show that women are to be object instead of subject. Men have broad shoulders, but women have their heavy part lower down. The composition of men and women even helps the New York subway situation. Sometimes during rush hour it is very crowded and men and women have to bunch together, and with one being wider on top and the other wider on the bottom more people can fit in a subway car!

Men and women cannot be outside the universal law that governs the rest of creation. God's love always dwells where there is plus and minus and give and take in harmony. The existence of minus alone would be imperfect and plus alone would be imperfect, but together they can make a permanent existence where God can dwell. Since God is permanent He is looking for a permanent home. No matter how poor and miserable you are, once you find love everything becomes equal. In love there is no such thing as being captain and lieutenant or loser and winner. Love makes men and women equal.

Are your mind and body one, being an unchanging, permanently true mind and body? No, the problem is still there. Are your mind and body united in harmony and joy or are they in conflict, trying to subjugate each other? When there is conflict you feel pain, but where does that pain come from? Man is out of order, with his mind and body out of joint while the rest of the universe is in harmony. The pain of conflict comes from the universe pushing the mind and body back toward that one point of harmony.

Where does the pain of illness come from? Sickness is the result of harmonious give and take in the body being disrupted and the harmonized universe responding with pressure on the affected area. We can almost say that it is a function of the universe to respond in this way to whatever is out of harmony with it. When you harmonize with the rest of the universe you feel joy and exhilaration.

Is your mind a plus or minus? It is meant to have the subjective role so it is trying to make the environment harmonize with it. Without the fall the body would have naturally responded to the mind and become one, but the fall caused the breakdown of that obedience. The mind and body each go in opposite directions, with each wanting to be subject and have its own way. Plus and plus repel each other.

Either the mind or the body must become a minus instead of plus, but which one should it be? The religious life results in the conquest of your body by your mind. It is when your body can become a complete zero, offering no resistance to your mind that your mind and body will really become one.

Leading a religious way of life always includes sacrifice, which essentially means giving up your body's desires. The quicker you can give up your body the quicker you can come to that unity which means perfection. What does that involve? First of all, the body always has a craving for sleep, even though the mind keeps saying, "Wake up! What are you doing? You must obey me! " The body also wants to eat, even when the mind insists on fasting.

Toward the end of a seven-day fast you feel very hungry, but when the end comes on the last day do you cheer, "I can eat!" If you do then you flunk the course. Right at that moment your body is ravenous, but if at that moment you say, "God, I can do this and more for You," then you have succeeded.

When you reach the age of adolescence your mind is also reaching out to embrace the entire universe. Everything has romantic and sentimental meaning and your feeling of wanting to love everything is very deep at that age. Why did God give that young adult age such sensitivity and romance and sentiment? That is the age at which God wanted to have men and women fully awaken to His love so they can truly give their love to God. True men and women would be consummated at that point. By reaching maturity in the love of God they can become men and women of perfection.

Once you are struck by the experience of the love of God you want to remain intoxicated in that love. You don't want to change but to go on that way for the rest of your life. That's the way God designed your life to be. Even when you go to the bathroom you would still think of God and when you eat a meal you would think of God. There is no moment when your face would be cloudy because inwardly you would always have spring. Once the love of God hits you and stays within you there is no other way you want to live. The age when your mind and body mature is the time God intended to have you be totally united with His love and to remain in that love for eternity.

Where can you find individual heaven? Is it found in unity between the mind and body? That answer includes only two parts. The love of God must make a dwelling place in that unity for it to be heaven. That is the formula for becoming a godly man. As an individual you transform yourself into the visible form of God because His dwelling is right there with you. You represent God's life, God's love and God's way of life. Do you really know what I mean by this?

You have two eyes but you don't see two images, do you? You see one image because in your brain they are united into one picture. By the same token, you have two ears which each receive a different sound, but do you hear two sounds? You don't actually hear what hits your ears but the combination of those sounds. If you have two special instruments tuned to the same pitch, the vibration of one is picked up by the other and it also starts vibrating. The realization of the ideal is similar, with the mind and body vibrating at the same frequency; then because God can hear that sound He comes down and stays there.

If you want to see God do you go out and look up at the sky to see Him? To see God you have to close your eyes, not open them. In the meantime your mind and body start vibrating together with the same sound as God. it's most logical to think that all five senses in your body are there for you to perceive God. Through them you can see, hear, smell, touch and taste God within you. If your mind and body are never separated, you will always have a happy way of life; when you eat you know why you eat and when you sleep you know that your mind and body are one. When you talk everything has meaning. Then you are a true man.

The false man has a mind and body that are always isolated and working separately. The mind I says one thing and the body does something else. For example, when I ask, "Shall we do such and I such?" everybody says yes, but usually I don't see much action!

The worst enemy that you have is the bad habits with which you grew up. The individualistic way of life in America will never bring unity between mind and body. My most important task in America is waging war against this entrenched way of life. You should not only say yes but translate that yes into action. At Belvedere on Sundays I know you are honest when you say, "We will do it," because you are really inspired and you want to do it, but by the time you get back to New York some temptation sidetracks you. You think there are a few minutes extra and you can lie down on your bed again, for instance, and by the time you get up all your inspiration is gone.

When you come to Belvedere and are inspired and you say you really want to work then when you eat a meal after you get back, just fill up your tank in the dining room and run. That's the way it should be. Perhaps you may get that far but at the street corner someone says, "Hey, let's talk a little," and you stand around and talk and half the day is gone and in the meantime your inspiration is lost. Is this true or not? You leaders in our Church should work as hard as I do, going out and shedding tears, sweat and blood, but often you are very passive and tell the members to go out while you stay back in the office.

The truth is that no matter how many years you have spent in the Unification Church, if you don't know the love of God then you are destined to hell instead of heaven. That is an honest evaluation; you don't deserve heaven yet. If you don't make yourself a total object then automatically the subject-object relationship will become more and more hazy and will finally disappear in your life.

What you are actually going to do is make your world. If you become an absolute plus to the world then you can expand your world of absolute minus wider and wider. In other words, when you give more and you create a part of the world which is minus to you, then with both you and that world together as a plus more of the world as minus will gather around you. In this extraordinary way all of plus and minus will ultimately become one.

Why do I emphasize serving others and sacrificing yourself? These are not empty words. As the subject you will disseminate more love, life and spirit and create more and more of a minus world. The bigger the world you can create the bigger plus you will become until finally you can be united with God. Then in reality you can assume God's position to that world.

This is the strategy I follow. When I came to America I was truly mistreated, but I didn't tell you to go get revenge for me. God asked me to love America. If you and I together as a plus give more love and life to America then this entire nation will become minus to us. That means that our plus is automatically as big as America. That is God's method for victory.

Now let me ask you, would you like to make just America the minus or the entire world? God is really waiting for someone who thinks as big as He does. God is like an old bachelor who hasn't found the right bride yet.

A good teacher will tell his students that it is good to help others and to love and sacrifice for them, but no one can explain why. We should be able to answer that question, however. Suppose that for the sake of God and humanity you chop one finger off. Spiritually speaking it is absolutely true that you will receive it back again billions of times over. If you sincerely give yourself and truly manifest the love of God then the world and God will return it to you many times fold.

Since they are minus, I want to ask all the women whether they should always want to receive love instead of giving it. Which comes first, giving or receiving? In this case it doesn't make any difference whether you are plus or minus. Wherever there is a giving action there will always be a return because you have an object to give to.

You American women need a revolution because you always want to receive. In the average American home the wife usually waits for her husband to initiate kissing, but it is best if both husband and wife do the initiating. When the POWs were freed after the Vietnam war and they came back home did their wives say, "Oh, I am glad you came back! Come here and kiss me." Is that the way it should be or should both sides run together and join into one happy union? When two people collide in heavenly love there is never any accident because when they hit, they turn. I particularly want to emphasize this for American women.

This morning I have described the individual heaven, but where can we find heaven for husband and wife? When plus and minus have total give and take and one unity together, heaven is there. As I said already, God dwells where a permanent situation exists and when a permanent lasting love unites a husband and wife God will be with them.

In many cases a woman falls in love with a man because he is so handsome. Imagine that he proposes and they get married, and one week later there is a car accident and that man becomes ugly and disfigured. The wife loved her handsome husband, but now that he is ugly is she justified in getting a divorce? Is that true love? America is the land of easy divorce and I discovered that two thirds of all divorces are initiated by women.

Heaven for a couple is where love and unity are permanent and nothing can separate them. If you begin with creating perfection as an individual then it is relatively easy to perfect yourself as husband and wife. We have talked about the individual and the husband and wife so far, but where is heaven for the family? When the parents, being the center of the family, totally unite with their children heaven is there. The most beautiful testimony is given when children look up to their parents and think that some day they will marry a wife like their own mother or a husband like their own father.

I want you to listen to this important statement: The Kingdom of God on earth begins with this family heaven-not the individual, not with the husband and wife, but with the heavenly four positions being completed. We can see that it should be like that by seeing the grief and sorrow that a person feels when the husband or wife dies. Wherever a universal law is broken, sorrow and pain quickly follow. Husband and wife are needed to fulfill the law of universal harmony, but when one person dies that particular formula is broken. That person feels pain and sorrow because one portion is lacking with whom he could fulfill heavenly harmony.

Why should it be like that? In order for there to be perfect harmony there should be three levels of unity-God, parents in the Adam and Eve position, and children-and if any of those levels are lacking there is disharmony within the universe. Clearly each couple needs children as the horizontal expansion of their family. Once you form this foundation then automatically a vertical line can be drawn. The body expands on the horizontal level and your children are a horizontal extension of your body, but your mind is vertically centered so the spirit world is your vertical extension. In this way both the physical world and spiritual world join together in you and through you God can maneuver the entire cosmos, which is the spirit world and physical world together.

After forming the family we need a nation. The composition of a nation is simple; it is an expansion of the formula for the family heaven. The father and mother together in the heavenly home are the visible representatives of God on the family level. There are many nationalities gathered together in this room, and who could we name as the sovereign of such a nation? God's direct representative should be the center of that nation, and the representative of God is the position of father-father of the people, all citizens, and all nations.

The same principle can be expanded to the national level. The head of the nation should be a representative of God and father of all the citizens. A father and mother united with the people in the position of children would make the nation the extension of the formula of the family heaven. The goal of a national parent is the prosperity and glory of the nation, not just of one family or one home. The same person who is the center of the nation must be the center of the family, center of the husband and wife, center of the individual. In other words, that person can bear the bigger burden of the nation. Instead of many different individuals, one person is the central axis of the Kingdom of God on earth.

This national level is only the second level after children as the center of the heavenly family. So far this world has not seen any goal beyond that second level. The nation is the broadest level of self-interest in this world today, but we must not forget that there is one more level to move up to. That is God Himself as the center, with the entire world living in joy as one home and one family.

When we install God as the center, who shall be His object? If someone represents God on the worldwide level we call that person a saint. On that level alone can all of humanity embrace God and God embrace man. The first level of great virtue is that of a pious son; that is the basic moral virtue of man. Who is such a son? That son will serve his, parents and grandparents with total devotion. completing a foundation of three generations: son, parents, and grandparents.

The second level of loyalty is the loyal subject, a patriot. A patriot serves the head of the nation as his parent and grandparent. On the children's level there is a set of parents and grandparents as the visible, direct subjects, but in speaking of the patriot I or the loyal subject there is a head of the state and God in the parent and grandparent's position. God is like the spiritual parent while the head of the nation should be like the physical parent. God truly dwells on a national level; in others words, God needs a sovereignty to truly have a home here on earth.

God wants to fulfill that concept in the work of the Messiah. The Messiah is coming in the position of parent and sovereign to the nation. Once the Messiah can stand on the national level God will be in the grandparent's position. This is why the dispensation of the Messiah will be fulfilled on the national level, when he will become the vertical connection between the heavenly world and the horizontal world.

This mission of the Messiah begins on the national level and is consummated on the worldwide level, with his job being to expand one nation into all nations. Once the entire world becomes as one nation, he will reign over the world as the parent of mankind and truly unite God with all men. That is the mission of the Messiah. In actuality he begins as a God-centered individual and then advances to the center of the model family and later to the level of nation and world. His mission will be consummated in the unity of all nations. Clearly the Messiah is an absolute necessity for the world and mankind.

The three levels of family, nation and world correspond to the three sections in each of your fingers. The individual who assumes the responsibility for the Kingdom of Heaven must pass through the basic family formula that I mentioned and move up to the national formula and then to the basic universal formula, passing all three tests. We know the true son of a family as a son of filial piety. We know the true subject of the nation as a patriot or loyal subject, and the person loyal to the universal level as a saint.

That is the formula for the Kingdom of Heaven, and the same basic formula works on three different levels. The person who passes the family level dispensation can win the national level as well with the same loyalty and love and heart and win the universal level in the same way. That one basic formula I am talking about is the universal core of truth, which is the father-son relationship in love. That will work on the family, national, and universal levels.

All our society is linked by this same principle, for example, a teacher and students in school. The students are in the son's position as far as the teacher is concerned and the teacher is like the parent of the students. Who should initiate love and giving? The teacher should give to the children. In the heavenly world the teacher who is working only for a salary is not a true teacher. A teacher should work out of love and should be giving love. He should not continue as a teacher without disseminating his own love to his students.

In a company the situation is the same. The president of the corporation in the position of parent and he should care for his employees as he would for his own children. They are in this position in respect to love. The Kingdom of God here on earth is the world where this formula of the father and son relationship is utilized and expanded in every segment of our society.

Always the closest point to God is the plus. In relationship to society is the Unification Church a plus or minus? You said we are plus, so should we receive instead of giving? Whether or not children receive the parents love should not change the parents' love. Whether or not America appreciates what we do doesn't make any difference; since we are in a parent's position as far as the universe is concerned we must give to America. We must give life, love and the heavenly way of life.

We cannot be hypocrites. We must sincerely give our lives and our love and sincerely serve in our way of life. If you are a hypocrite, if there is no genuineness in your giving then you are like a thief who is taking things away without any legitimate reason. The universe will not allow that. Whatever you do has an educational purpose, whether it is selling newspapers or fund raising. By doing all these things with genuine sincerity you are teaching America, and if you continue to give in the genuine way then sooner or later they will come to appreciate you. They will realize that they need that life and love. The time will come when New York will bow down to your sincere giving.

This is the basic formula of the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth, which is the motto of this new year. By living it and practicing it we are going to fulfill, inch by inch, the visible Kingdom of God here on earth. What time are we living in according to the heavenly timetable? I want you to know that we are living on the universal level and our schedule is part of the worldwide dispensation. We have come to the final level where we can receive the parents of the world and we can receive God as the center of the world.

If you are truly to become a loyal subject, you cannot just cling to your own parents and present yourself to the sovereign and say, "I am a loyal subject." You haven't much qualification in that case. Once you become parents and take responsibility in the kingdom and come to give yourself for the purpose of the king and queen then you can say you are a loyal subject. In other words, you must actually follow the same principle of loving your parents and demonstrate this on a larger scale, in this case toward the king and queen.

Following this principle, you cannot claim to be a saint merely by presently yourself in unity with your king and queen. Instead you must leave your king and queen and participate in the universal emergency, or God's ultimate purpose. After you have truly given yourself totally you can assume the role of saint.

Everyone is too impatient to receive recognition but the time will come. The Messiah ultimately comes to take Adam's position. When God created Adam God intended him to be head of the perfect family, head of society, king of the nation and king of the universe.

God is giving a panacea to the world in the form of the Messiah and he will give all the honor you need. Once you have that conviction and faith after meeting the Messiah you have everything that you need. Because the Messiah is coming in Adam's position to be the perfected man, perfected head of the family, perfected king of the nation and perfected saint of the universe, once you find him he will satisfy you fully. All you need is to demonstrate a little patience, and ultimately he will bring salvation.

I want you to know one very important truth, however; the Messiah's ultimate goal is to consummate the universal dispensation, not just to save one nation or one people, and in order to serve him you have to work on the universal level. That means leaving your home and your natural parents behind, as well as leaving your king and queen and nation behind. Then you will be able to serve him and say, "I belong to you." When you serve the Messiah then you are actually fulfilling the role of pious son, patriot and saint. By serving that one person you have already fulfilled everything.

Once you find him and become entirely faithful to him then when you go to spirit world you are above everyone else there because nothing greater has ever been found than the person who will serve the Messiah. On earth you respect the head of the nation but in spirit world all these titles become small before the universal throne of God. In heaven God's son is head of everything, belonging to God directly. By serving him you put yourself above all the kings and queens of the earthly nations.

This is what we are trying to accomplish, being the kind of people who can serve on that level, with our love and devotion and loyalty going beyond the boundary of nation, race and cultural background. The position of serving the Messiah transcends all these things. If you belong to the Messiah, then wherever you go you indeed walk as the princes and princesses of God. Japan would not be a strange country for you for instance nor Germany. Each country would be your own because it belongs to God and the Messiah. Wherever you go is your home and your kingdom.

At the same time you can not only be proud to be in those countries, but wherever you find suffering in the world you must feel that suffering as your own pain, because you are in the position of king and queen. The responsibility for that suffering is yours. That is precisely what our way of life should be in the Unification Church. By doing that, the kingdom is physically being established step by step.

We are going to live this motto in 1978: The Basic Formula for the Realization of the Kingdom of God on Earth. You are typical American young people, right? Even in our own church there are many young men and women who are still suffering because many of them were wounded in their lives before joining the Unification Church. Some of them were hippies, were on drugs or had venereal disease. Some of those things left permanent scars and even after joining the Unification Church those experiences still hurt them. Even so, you are the best people in this country.

Think of how miserable the young people outside are. Each day most of them are ruining themselves more and more. When we see the suffering of humanity outside then even if 1,000 of our members must become a sacrifice we should reach out and embrace the millions of young people who are dying now. That is love.

If our members must sacrifice themselves to save the people then the first one to suffer is me. I must suffer to make you do it. In the worldly sense America is my adversary and in normal circumstances I could not be blamed for cursing America. However, I am even sacrificing my own family to save America. All the billions of people of the world have become adversaries of God. Even though they have rebelled and been children of Satan God is still reaching out to embrace them and try to save them. That is God's way of life and that's the way of life I must pursue also.

God sacrificed His son Jesus Christ to save humanity; God's only begotten son was killed as a sacrifice to save humanity. Would it be right or wrong if it were necessary to sacrifice you to save America and the rest of the world? People of the world are dying and desperately suffering. If they are your brothers and sisters then you have to reach them and cry out for them.

We may never be understood by others but that's all right. One person will know who you arc- God- and as long as God is on our side we are in the majority. As long as we are fighting on His side there is nothing to be afraid of. In the year of 1978 I will push you out as hard as I can to go and save America. You should not only go out to save America but to truly find value for yourself. Then you will become the true you. That makes it a dual process, to save America and to make the real, permanent you. Both can be accomplished at the same time.

How much is God in tears and how much is God's heart suffering? Throughout history God has given His life, given His love and given His way of life, over and over and over. I am asking you how many times and how much you have given. If you become a person who is trying to find the easy way out then you are an adversary of God instead of a child of God.

You cannot expect an easy year this year. I really will push you out! If you really follow me then you must expect to take that pressure. This is the year of strength and boldness. Once you offer your life on the altar then what is there to be afraid of? The end result of sacrificial giving and sacrificial service is bringing the Kingdom of God right here in America.

Why should we be hastening the dispensation here in America? One important reason is that America's way of life is corrupting the rest of the world, just like an epidemic. Not only is America dying herself, she is also killing the rest of the world. America is doubly sick in the sight of God for this reason and His judgment will be double. We cannot allow that to happen to America.

Why should we hasten this dispensation in America? At least at the end of World War II there were many patriots here in America who truly loved their country and loved God. Already thirty three years have passed since World War II ended and many of the people who were brought up in patriotic families have already died. There aren't too many left. The generation born after World War II is spreading a wave of evil in America and in ten years the people who are the backbone of American patriotism will be gone. By then America's situation will be hopeless. Before that happens we must hasten to re-ignite heavenly patriotism in America.

In facing this kind of emergency do you think I should say, "You have done very well in 1977 so take a rest in 1978"? I simply cannot do that because I love you. From this moment on you have no excuse because you now know the reality. The number eight marks a new beginning in the Divine Principle so in 1978 we can really liquidate the past and make a gigantic new beginning. Will you make a new resolution to do this in 1978?

We must go and teach the world the basic formula of the realization of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Would you complain or retreat? Would you give your life to it and march forward? Whoever would do it, raise your hand and pledge yourselves to God. Thank you. Let us pray.

Principles of Indemnity throughout History (B)

Sun Myung Moon
December 30, 1979
Abel's Right Path from the Providential Point of View
(Unofficial Translation)

Photo date and location unknown

For Africans sacrificed themselves for this country without receiving any appreciation and love, now America should indemnify and pay restitutions by offering materials. This is also to make indemnity conditions for the slavery. This is God's dispensation not only just for America but also for the entire free world.

By the same token, for America sent young soldiers to Asia to shed their precious blood in order to protect those countries, it was a part of the providence to indemnify the fact that many American Indians were sacrificed in the earlier formation of the country. As so much American blood was shed in Korea, we must conclude that Korea is providentially central and important. America must protect Korea from the communist party in the name of God and humanity. Therefore, whenever any country of dispensational importance turns away from Korea, God will give up that nation. Korea shed blood for the world and for God; if America gives Korea up it means America is no longer connected to that nation and the indemnity it paid. Thus, America would have to pay indemnity separately and more American young people would have to shed their blood. If Americans ignore this reality, the communists will attack. Americans may wonder what benefit there is in defending Korea; the reward that returns to them by fighting to defend Korea comes in the form of the tradition of fighting against communism which they will inherit. American young men fought and died in Korea, preserving it for the purpose of the world, but in Korea entire families died defending that country for the world and God. Koreans sacrificed much more. By supporting Korea, America inherits that tradition and will be preserved from communist attack. God will see to it.

America is eligible to inherit the Abel tradition of fighting communism which Korea established, but not if this nation is indifferent to this inheritance. I came to America to teach Americans the reality of communism and how the communists have worked historically, so that Americans will take heed and act before it is too late. That tradition is well-established in Korea and Japan and must be established here. Americans still don't understand why they should be concerned, so I am teaching you.

Americans must excel in muscle-power and military power as well as in thought. Otherwise, evil will never surrender to goodness. There is a reason why the Unification Church, a religious body, encourages America to sustain its physical strength: it is to protect against violence. Karate is a formidable technique of self-defense. I encourage you to learn it because I know that when communists run out of other strategies they will certainly attack us with force. We do not prepare ourselves that way only for our individual defense, but in order to act effectively as soldiers of heaven.

Now for the first time we can see consistency in history. When Africa is in need, as when Russia sends troops there, Americans should volunteer and not need anyone to tell them to go. If they will go there to fight for the sake of the world and God then they will be a true offering, which will enable God to multiply the benefits of their actions. Would I discourage them from going and suffering, or approve their going in the tradition of Abel?

The only meaningful way to turn the world aside from its present course is to do these things voluntarily. If a policeman refuses to interfere with a crime because he fears for his life, he should be punished. But if he joins the police force primarily to protect America in the name of God and not only for the salary, then heaven will remember his intention if he is killed in the line of duty. When Unification Church members are correctly educated and practice this God-centered way of life, we will remain firm and volunteer for dangerous missions even when the CIA or FBI run away. Am I too political or violent in my thinking? In order to leave the Abel tradition we will certainly be the first to volunteer so that hundreds of millions of people will benefit.

Principles of Indemnity throughout History (A)

Sun Myung Moon
December 30, 1979
Abel's Right Path from the Providential Point of View
(Unofficial Translation)

Photo date 1988 - location unknown

When I crossed over the thirty-eighth parallel and came back to the south, I did not do it to spare my own life, but rather to serve the free world and God. I felt deeply that if Kim II Sung was going to invade South Korea, then he had better have much more love for South Korea than I do; otherwise, under any circumstances will I not allow him to put his foot into the south. I told the Korean staff members that as a crucial period had begun, so that everyone would have to be on full alert spiritually and pray for God's protection until April 1980. Two days later the assassination took place. The Korean situation now is very delicate and we don't know when the tide till turn or how.

The reason why I met President Nixon was for the sake of the world. I did so for the sake of God. I neither supported President Nixon for his personal benefit nor for the gain of the Unification Church. It was done for the sake of the Free World and all mankind. Therefore, we appealed to the public by proclaiming, "Forgive, love and unite." Unfortunately, America could not do what I asked. Consequently, the authority of the presidency was lost. Even if I criticize America, I'm not doing so because of my personal feelings. I am just reflecting how God feels about this nation. You are working for God and humanity. This attitude reflects Abel's church and Abel's family.

The reason why I make you to sacrifice yourself is that I am taking responsibility for your future -- help you get resurrected to enter the kingdom of God. This is the path of Abel. I have no intention of having only the Unification Church profit by it. When I tell you to listen to what I say, it is for the sake of Humanity. God has been watching what the Unification Church do to benefit God's dispensation and Humanity or otherwise to hinder them. Therefore, my conscience is clear even if I push you to go the path of hardship and suffering. I only wish you to go the traditional path of Abel. Am I wrong to do this? (No)

From the view of the tradition of Abel, Americans should recognize that the lives of those Native Americans were sacrificed not for America but for the sake of the world and God's will. Then a path that they will be able to reconcile with white Americans opens. The Native Americans are the yellow race. America owes this debt historically; she must make restitution toward the Asian race. This was why many young American soldiers gave up their lives in Korea during the Korean War.

Because of their ultimate sacrifices there, Rev. Moon owes the debt of gratitude towards America. When I was in prison it was the troops of the free world who liberated me and saved South Korea. To repay that debt I came to America, working for the free world and God by shedding my blood and sweat under the severe persecution. Due to this principles of Indemnity throughout history, the providence of dividing good and evil takes place. I am doing these because of this providential reason. I always feel that I have reason to be grateful to the free world because I am still alive.

Because I sacrificed for America such a way, American young people will go to Korea in order to ring the liberty bell of America. As Rev. Moon toiled to liberate America, you must give yourselves for Korea and Korean people to be liberated there. American soldiers fought in Korea on a physical level, but the spiritual service you will give will be much more valuable. Whatever we do, we pour our hearts into it without reserve.

Today American men and women want to marry Asians, especially Koreans. Before now they never thought about it. Why is this? This is because of a heavenly trend, not individual choice. In that way America can indemnify the fact that she did not love the Native Americans in the past. This is how I understand this phenomenon. That only makes sense from the providential point of view, doesn't it? The fact that Africans came to this country hundreds of years ago was preparation for this one day, even though they were brought as slaves. Native Americans sacrificed for this country by shedding their blood, and black people came and gave their bodies completely for this country. Now America should look for ways to help Africa. Since Africans gave their blood sacrifices for this country and help build up America's material wealth; thus, she is responsible to assist the black nations in Africa by sending material assistance. This is my providential view.

Cain Will Protect Abel after Abel fulfills His Responsibility

Sun Myung Moon
December 30, 1979
Excerpt from Abel's Right Path from the Providential Paoint of View

Photo date and location unknown

In your years in the Church have you become a person of complete faith and righteousness? Have you become a person of heart? Or have you become someone who is filled with heavenly thought and ideal? Regardless of being recognized or not, once you set out to witness to people, you must invest yourself in order that people whom you witness come to surrender and follow you. You must understand how difficult it is to follow the tradition of Abel.

Suppose God promised the prophets when they were sent to earth, they would be welcome by the people of their respected ages. They were excited, feeling they would be seated at the King's thrown and be going on the path of great success and be recognized by the world. Even when they were persecuted they thought that soon the people would understand and follow, but as years went by and that did not happen they got discouraged and felt they couldn't even trust God, and wondered where they themselves were going. Should a prophet feel this way? Is this prophet genuine? (No)

Abel finds that he is not able to serve kings or wealthy people, but only the servants of servants. When we compare who led the more miserable life -- the servant's servant of Satan's side or the Abel on the heavenly side -- Abel can be acknowledged when Abel can boast of living in more misery than even the servants of this world.

In the Satanic world one of those servants will say to Abel, "I thought I had a lowly life in the world, but when you came to teach me I was surprised to find that you had lived a worse life. Yet it was you who never forsook hope and gave me the support I needed!" Abel can reply, "I know we both had bad situations. When you were low, you had no hope, but I was able to maintain the ideal of faith and righteousness, loving heart, and ideal of heaven. Because of them, I trusted you and gave my best for your sake." That person cannot help but say, "Actually I don't own anything and I have nothing to offer you, but since you have come down this low and tried to love me, even sacrificing your own life, I cannot help but love you. I will give up everything and follow you, no matter what."

When someone feels he wants to love you more than anyone else, you become Abel at that moment. Abel can only be Abel when there is a Cain. That Cain is your elder brother, not your younger brother. Abel may be breaking his back trying to teach Cain for years and years, and then one day Cain confesses, "You have already done your share. You sit down and I will do the work in the way you showed me." When Cain decides to go out on the front line to work, then Abel is truly an Abel. After many years that person has been so moved through his experience with Abel that he knows clearly it is the only way to live. Then he approaches Abel and says, "It is not fair that you do everything. Let me work for the world." When Cain volunteers like that, then you find that you are Abel. This is exactly the reverse of what happened in Adam's family.

God began the work of dispensation in Adam's family through Cain and Abel. Being the eldest, Cain had responsibility for his younger brother, but did Cain protect him? No, he killed him, and thus the work of restoration was prolonged. Likewise, today Cain must protect Abel. But does it make sense for Abel to say, "This is the boundary of heaven, and since I was here first I ought to be Abel!" No. If a person doesn't show a good example or work harder with more heart than anyone else, especially younger people, then it does not stand to reason that he can automatically be an Abel.

Originally the eldest should be first when everyone goes to stand before God. But because of fallen history it is the Abels who should be first. Cain will say, "Abel is better than me and therefore he ought to go first. I will follow after him and then meet God." It is Cain who will point out Abel. Abel cannot say, "This person is my Cain." It is not Abel who decides the situation, but Cain.

Any staff members or people in so-called higher position who are not working hard are swindlers and false leaders. How many people in the Unification Church feel they are the Abel-in the truest sense? Those who feel they are more Abel than Cain, raise your hands. If you feel like Cain, who is your Abel? Is there a Cain who does not have an Abel? If you are a brother then there must be someone else you are related to.

If you say you feel like Cain but you don't have an Abel then you are neither Cain nor Abel. You have to work out among yourselves who is Cain and who is Abel. The relationship between Cain and Abel should be so close that their faith and love are immovable. No matter what bad things happen or what the world thinks, that relationship should be so strong that it is unaffected.

Why is it necessary to have an Abel and Cain? Being Abel is difficult and being Cain is also difficult, so why can't we all just become the same? If all you want to do is go to heaven, why can't Cain go by himself and Abel go by himself? Why can't things be simpler? When you come to the Unification Church and start looking for an Abel, you might say, "That Abel worked too hard and now he is old and wrinkled. I want an easier Abel who looks better." But seriously, think about the person who saves you, your messiah. Cain is saved by Abel and Abel is also saved by Cain. We have to understand this relationship.

God and the Limit of Science

Sun Myung Moon
November 25, 1979
Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, USA
Eighth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Photo date and location unknown

Distinguished chairman, eminent scholars, ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you all very much for attending this eighth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences. Each year this meeting has become increasingly important because of your participation. This is gratifying to me as the founder of the conference.

In connection with this year's theme, "The Responsibility of the Academic Community in the Search for Absolute Values," I would like to express a few opinions on the topic, "God and the Limit of Science." As science developed in recent years, humankind had great expectations and believed that the advancement of science and technology would bring relief from both spiritual and physical difficulties.

Scientists who have a sense that theirs is a crucial mission as contributors to humankind, have continued on the one hand to pursue ultimate scientific truth and, on the other hand, to apply technology in almost every field of human endeavor. The resulting benefits have been fantastic economic growth, material affluence and physical well being such as humankind has never before known.

However, for all its great merits, today's technology has equally great demerits, generating such problems as pollution, resource depletion, depersonalization and accumulation of formidable weapons of thermonuclear destruction. Thus, the very science that originated with the intent to realize happiness for humankind has, with its successes, brought fears and instability as well. What is the reason? The reason is that science, in adhering to its position of scientific neutrality, has excluded considerations of purpose and value.

I wish to proclaim that human beings have value from their very origin. They are creations of God. They are created to lead life with a definite value perspective in accordance with the purpose of creation. In spite of originally being creatures of vast value, people have disregarded this value perspective and, believing in the omnipotence of science, taken it as a panacea. Consequently, technology has become a source of increasing damage.

For human beings, science can only be a means; it cannot be an end. The purpose of human life is to realize God's purpose of creation. Each person is a unified being of both physical and spiritual entities. Hence, on the foundation of physical life, we are to lead a life of value -- a life of love, truth, goodness and beauty. Science and technology are needed for the sake of allowing physical life to become a proper basis for spiritual life.

Therefore, the science that disregards or fails to emphasize the life of value actually brings about the destruction of value perspective in human beings, leading toward today's reality of fear and insecurity. The deliverance of humankind from this unfortunate reality can be achieved only by searching for and discovering the true value perspective. Science, in turn, must abide by this value perspective, which must be based on absolute value.

Where could this absolute value be found? It could only be found in God's love. In fact, the union of truth, goodness and beauty based on God's love is indeed this absolute value.

Accordingly, it stands to reason that humankind's liberation from the harms caused by the misuse of science and technology can come only when science itself recognizes God, and guides and applies its technology in the same direction as God's love.

Next, I would like to suggest that there is a limit to science in its search for truth in the field of nature. In this twentieth century, science has finally found itself pushed into the realm of philosophy in its own search for truth. It has had to take upon itself the question of the origin of the universe, just as did ancient philosophies, both Eastern and Western.

That is, science itself, especially physics and biology, has been confronted with various long-disputed and unresolved questions of ontology. Indeed, certain experiments in quantum physics and molecular biology have been performed for the purpose of exploring these ontological questions.

Thus, using theoretical and experimental approaches, physics has dealt with the study of ontology, with the question, "What is the true nature of matter?" The first answer was "the atom." A second was "elementary particles." Finally, quantum mechanics delivered an answer in which the elementary particles of matter are related to energy itself. In the same way, biology approached a similar ontological problem, "What is the true nature of life?" Eventually, the answer suggested was, "The secret of life lies in the properties of DNA!"

Thus, in its search for the truth about the universe, natural science has uncovered many facts and accumulated an astonishing body of knowledge. However, these are hardly ultimate solutions to man's questions.

Even though quantum physics affirms that the true ground of matter is energy, we do not know from where energy comes, what the previous stage or state of energy is, or why and how energy transfers from its previous state to the existing state. Why did a variety of molecules come into being? Why does each molecule have its characteristic pattern of positive and negative charges? There are many questions yet to be clarified.

Similarly, molecular biology maintains that the true nature of life is bound up in DNA coding, yet significant questions remain. How did the four units of the DNA code come to bear information? How did DNA come to possess the ability to replicate itself?

In its pursuit of truth, even though science has developed to a surprising degree, it still leaves many of its own problems untouched. What is the implication of this? It can only mean that these remaining scientific questions are not within the direct realm of current natural science.

Up to now, although science in its quest for truth has investigated immediate causes of particular phenomena, it has not taken up the search for motives or reasons for existence as a whole. Thus, the final challenge that science confronts is this question of the ultimate reason for existence. The unexplored problem in the question, "What is the true nature of matter?" is that of the reason for its existence, and again, the untouched problem in the question, "What is the true nature of life?" is that of the very reason for life itself.

I propose that, in clarifying reasons, one must first admit purpose. Before admitting purpose, one must first recognize the Will that made the purpose, namely, the cosmic and universal Will that transcends all things. When you call this cosmic Will "God," then the initial step in clarifying unresolved questions is first to apprehend God's purpose of creation. The second step is to perceive that, along with the physical or chemical factors in all material and life phenomena, there exists a causal motive directing each thing toward a certain purpose.

In short, the very science developed for the happiness of humankind is today a cause of difficulty or even harm. The only way to be freed from these harms is to bring science under the true value perspective that centers in God's love. As more and more scientists find themselves reaching the limit of science, they will find that the key to transcending this limit is to regard that, behind all material and life phenomena, there is a purposeful motive working in accordance with God's purpose of creation.

It is my considered and confident belief that the points mentioned here are the most important and pressing matters facing today's science. It would be most fortunate if they could serve as a reference for the topics to be discussed by all the distinguished scholars who are taking up the theme of this year's conference.

In conclusion, I wish all of you success in your research and pursuit of truth in relation to the absolute truth. I am sure that the fruits of your efforts expressed in the presentations at this conference will contribute in a significant way toward world peace.

Thank you all very much.