Sun Myung Moon
March 1, 1978
Belvedere, New York
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
No one really likes sorrow and no one really likes tears, but no man -- nor all of history can avoid these two elements. We can ask whether God wanted to see a day of sorrow or day of happiness when He created heaven and earth, and the answer obviously is that God wanted to see a day of joy. As you read Genesis you will see that God finished each day's creation by saying it was good. On the final day God created man, and then He said it was very good. God's saying it was good means that it was in a realm beyond the realm of sorrow.
Creation was initiated in joy, and God created in joy. Indeed, God has been looking forward to the day of His fulfillment in joy, eager to see His creation grow in joy and be consummated in joy. If man as the center of all creation had been perfected, that truly would have happened. God wanted man to be the center and to initiate joy and prosperity in His creation, and when God created Adam and Eve they were the symbol or consummation of His joy. By perfecting themselves, they should have been in a position to return the ultimate joy God was looking forward to. However, man brought the day of sadness instead. God was in the position to be the first one in the universe to taste joy, and once it came to Him, that joy would have lasted for eternity without change because God is eternal. God was supposed to be the master of joy, but because man brought the fall to earth, God was transformed into the master of sorrow.
Who in this entire universe shed tears first? The very people who brought the fall, Adam and Eve? Or God, the creator, who was seeing the failure of His own creation? The God of joy was transformed into the God of sadness. He tasted the first sadness and was the first one in the universe to shed tears. Adam and Eve first felt pain and sorrow when they were chased out of the Garden of Eden and that day began the history of sadness.
This nation of America has a short history compared to other nations, but much sorrow and many tears are mixed within that brief history. History cannot be woven without them, and even a short history always records sadness and tears. They naturally come when a distressing event occurs instead of an anticipated situation. Then what can we call the "normal' way of life? First of all, each person grows as a child , then a young adult, an adult and finally a senior citizen Perhaps under normal circumstances we would grow through these phases without having a major sickness, distress or accident, and that could be called the normal life that everyone looks forward to.
People always hope to enjoy good spiritual and physical health and attain some status as citizens of their nations but in reality not many people actually follow the course in life. Most deviate from it. There are two kinds of deviation, however; one person leaves that course to pursue a selfish goal, and the other not for a selfish reason, but for the overall benefit of mankind. For this reason the taste of sorrow is also of two kinds.
We remember certain great individuals in history, and when we examine their ways of life we see that those who are respected and admired did not necessarily live normally but departed from the ordinary. Furthermore, the lives of great men contain a great deal of sorrow and tears. Though some people shed tears for selfish purposes, there is no value in them for the people who come afterward. If we know, however, that the heroes who suffered great pain also shed tears for the sake of the nation or even for great numbers of people, then we want to remember and respect those persons.
Do you think that everyone in jail is a rascal who deserves to be there? Can you make a blanket judgment like that? No, there are two kinds of people in jail. The ere are those who ought to be in jail for committing crimes for their own benefit, but there are also prisoners who stood up for righteousness and ended up in jail when they suffered judgment falsely. Both people suffered pain and might have shed tears of sorrow. But in value the two are absolutely different.
History gives a mandate to each generation
It is generally known in the world that Americans shy away from tears and sorrow and that they prefer to live in laughter and humor. The great speaker here is generally considered to be the one who can amuse people. Does that mean that Americans have no respect for the person who serves his country in an extraordinary way, with tears and sorrow? Not necessarily. In history museums in America you can see depicted the many historic moments remembered by the nation; many of these are of bloodshed and killing and heroic death. It seems a contradiction that even while Americans are avoiding tears and sorrow, they build museums to enshrine the people who suffered a great deal in pain and sorrow. But this shows that Americans still have the innate human nature to admire tears shed for the sake of others, for the nation or for all of mankind.
History and the nation don't want the people of the nation to live superficially, just laughing and joking every day without touching any depth. History and the nation give a people the mandate that in righteousness they must shed tears and taste sorrow. This is the historic mandate given to each generation, and it is telling Americans that when the time comes they must feel sorrow and risk bloodshed for the well-being of others.
All 240 million Americans are pursing lives of laughter, but imagine one man in their midst who, instead of joining the crowd, is worrying about the grim future of America and the generations to come, toiling in tears and sorrow to bring the nation back to its righteous path. Who is more historical in your opinion? Is that one man living a good life who is enduring such torment and sorrow, mourning the corruption and injustice?
This is something that American young people, particularly you, should be thinking about. If you approached Americans and told them that there is something to be sorrowful about in the world, would you find many to join together with you and shed tears? How many comrades would you find out there? If you started a "Club for Tears", and even fed the members well at the meetings with steaks and so forth, but afterward the program included crying, how many American young people would join? We laugh at the idea, but it's something for you to think about.
There is self-centered sorrow and there is sorrow for the sake of others. Why does one have no value, while shedding tears for others has value? Did you hear God spell that rule out, saying specifically that one is more valuable? If Adam and Eve had not fallen but on so me days there was sorrow in the garden of Eden, it would never be self-centered sorrow. There would be sorrow only over something which the entire universe would be sorrowful over. There would only be deep unity of feeling between them, not two different motives of feeling. Only because of the falls of man are there two kinds of sorrow.
The sorrow of Adam and Eve became self centered, but God's is public sorrow; Adam and Eve were sad for themselves, but God was sorrowful for His children en. You must know why unselfish tears are precious--those are the tears and sorrow God feels, and His so sorrow is always public. Anything in God's image or of His own doing should be remembered and respected and admired. For this reason we come to the conclusion that in the fallen world those who remain shall ill be the ones who are trying to live in the image of (God who shed tears and suffer His kind of sorrow. They will automatically reflect God's type of existence, and be given His protection, and therefore, they shall not perish. The formula which says that anything which is like God will remain applies in any walk of life -in the family, nation and world.
Should life be lived only for the present?
Today there are many people who are ambitious to become famous in our world. Are you one of them? Those se who model themselves after someone in the past have one kind of ambition, but there are some who want to create a new history and become a hero of it. Another kind will say, "I may not be known now, but I will lay the cornerstone of future tradition and be remembered by history." There are three kinds of people and they are each good in their own way.
The person who wants to be remembered by the past standard of history or by the present standard, or the one who wants to be remembered by future history are; all good, but what is your choice? You are smart to car e about the future, but are you saying that you don't care about the past and present? The hippies in America don't have a concept of the past, present and future like this; they don't care about anything but being happy today.
Perfection and happiness cannot be derived only in the present moment. Does the present constitute cause and effect? Suppose you are a painter and you are working on a portrait which consists only of the face of a beautiful woman; she represents only the present, the contemporary world, and there is no background or futuristic mystery to her portrait. Could that one flat face be a masterpiece? If we add a background of sky and clouds, it will add depth to the picture and portray a three-dimensional world.
A group of clouds can contain all kinds of abstract images, and when the blue sky is in the background it can express all kinds of ideas about the future. If the lady is holding a baby bird in her hand which the mother bird is trying to feed, the picture tells a story of a certain relationship of heart. In order to truly make this picture a masterpiece there must be depth, a past, a present and a future. It must depict three different generations.
Women are particularly conscious of what they wear, especially their accessories. Some women even wear clumsy things like big bug pins, trying to add to their beauty perhaps. Mother always likes to wear turtle pins, for instance. Faces are flat, but these little ornaments represent ideals and aspirations and lend depth and mystery.
When I first came to America in 1965 I did not know anything about the hippie movement, and when I came to San Francisco I saw funny kinds of men and women leaning against streetlights in awkward ways. Perhaps they were meditating; I don't know because I didn't look so closely. I thought of one person in the perspective of a work of art, and thought that if he were holding a flower he would look entirely different and that the scene would impart a different feeling. If he were holding an open bloom together with a bud and a flower about to open, it would represent very much and tell a story. It would represent past, present and future, for example, and even with that little touch, the scene would contain a great deal of depth and mystery.
Parental discipline is given for the benefit of the nation and the world living the happiest life? Should life be like that? Young people today have a great deal of energy, and with it they defy the past, rejecting it as having nothing of value. Particularly American young people categorize their parents as belonging to another general ion and talk about the generation gap; they won't listen to their parents because they think their parents don't know anything. They think the present is every thing and they complain, "Why do I have to torture myself studying? All I want is happiness in the here an' I now while I have a body to enjoy it with." How m any parents would encourage this attitude? Parents worry instead, and wish their children would be more e thoughtful and deep; they would prefer that they suffer some hardship and discipline in the present so that they could become more purpose-oriented in their adult years.
If people should only be content with the present, why would we bother with school? Why is it necessary to study history and geography if we only live in the present? Dancing and drinking and fun of all kinds would be fine in that case. How would hippies teach their own children, however? Would their legacy be only that they lived day by day and enjoyed their own bodies? Would they tell their children to follow that example and enjoy carnal pleasure? Would they discourage their children from going to school, saying that it only teaches silly things anyway, and that children don't have to be smart? Look at the animals; they don't have to study and they are happy."
Whether they are hippies or just average people, parents would think differently about their children's lives than their own and worry about their futures. A parental heart for children is the same both in hippies and average parents. Parents will always be concerned for their children's well being and want the m to be better than they themselves are. "Even though I lived my life this way, I don't want you to copy me. I want you to be purposeful and to prepare 1 for the future."
Imagine that a hippie parent has committed some crime me and has been arrested and sentenced to death. Would he tell his children, "I am a hero; we are here to revolutionize the world and cut away everything that is old, so go ahead; copy me and do whatever you like." Would hippie mothers think that because they themselves are different from the society-at-large that they can be selfish and tell their children to follow their example? I don't think so; the parental heart is a universal one.
If the worst criminal takes his children to the movies and they watch a scene of a robbery, exactly like what the father has been doing all his life, would he tell his children they must be just like that? Wouldn't he say, "That is an evil man, my son. He shouldn't be like that and you mustn't pay attention to him." Even if he is a robber, a father will forget himself as far as his children are concerned and want his children to be good somehow. That's the natural expression of human conscience and parental heart.
Would this nation welcome those who have paid no attention to future, but only live in the present? No nation can afford to have people only living for today. National leaders must always have vision and clarify it for the people so that they will willingly endure suffering for the sake of the future. It is a good leader who will preach to the people about exercising restraint for the sake of tomorrow. Does this make sense to American young people, though?
Sizing up the merits of a philosophy is like evaluating a person
What is the most ideal philosophy for leadership? The ideal way of life should be welcomed by people of the past and the present and future. That one way of life should be embraced by all, not rejected by some. Why shouldn't we be unconcerned about the past, since it will never return, and worry only about the present and future? If someone wanted to investigate Bo Hi Pak, for instance, they would look into what he did in the past. When you apply for something here in America, people want to know the record of your past, how you lived and what you did, more than what you look like at the present time and whether you make it to work at 8 a.m. every day. A person may look all right at the present time, but no company can necessarily have confidence that he won't betray them tomorrow. Would a company use an unknown person right away in a high-salaried position?
Nothing can be accomplished instantly; everything goes through a process of growth through time. Suppose a person is well known, but when you look into his past it is dirty and corrupted; you wouldn't pay much attention to him because you would know he would I neither be trustworthy in the present nor worthy of respect in the future.
In c conclusion man does not live for today. Man lives for history, and history has three parts past, present and future. Now is the present, but one hour from now is already the future. Here I am in the middle o' history, past, present and future; I am walking in the present, but behind me is the past and in front of me is the future.
You can live your life in one of three ways-you can go straight ahead, you can go crookedly down, or go straight and go up. Is it easier to drive a car on the highway ray, or to pilot a plane straight up into the air'' taking g off into the air in a straight line is more difficult because you have to support yourself somehow; otherwise you will fall down. It is difficult to go straight up, but once you do it you can find a new level where not many people have been. You can establish yourself as a master in that new world.
It is America's pride that she sent a man to the moon before anyone else, but it was very difficult to do. Have you ever thought about how much money was spent to send that man to the moon? Billions of dollars were used which might have brought a better name for America if they had been spent for helping people around the world, but America wanted to send a man to the moon instead because no one else had done it. If that goal was achieved solely for the selfish purpose of America then no one would pay much attention, particularly if it was for military purposes, perhaps to help destroy Russia or take over other nations for selfish gain. No one could respect America in that case. If America sent that man in the name of mankind, people would welcome her achievement and rejoice over it. When anything is done with a conviction that is for the sake of mankind, all the world's people will rejoice over it.
Why should we have to abide by such a rigid ethic? Why not live at random with instant gratification instead? A goal of accomplishing something for the whole should be supported because history is not moving at random: it has a certain will and destination, and every event is moving in that direction, whether large or small. Everything longs to exist parallel with that vertical will.
Each person desires to be like the one who brings the solution to the past, present and future
Human history runs in one direction, no matter where you go in the world. It progresses according to the will of Principle, and as it progresses it forms a sphere. That is the shape of history. The outer surface is large and it contains ever smaller concentric spheres, concluding with a small dot in the center. In essence, that tiny dot represents the entire universe because it is the center, the pivot point. When you stand in that center, you are connected to all events and you are the center of the whole arena of human history.
Everyone has the desire to excel in some way and become well known, whether or not they are capable of achieving it. Do even you poor Moonies want that? Men as well as women? That desire to be in the center of things is a basic formula in man's life. Life was molded to be lived in that fashion and everyone has that quality. There are five colors of skin on earth, and out of those, which people would be more disposed to become the central dot? The white race would naturally assume they would, and if they accept making the necessary conditions, then fine; let them do so.
The most important stipulation is that no one can stand in the central role when he looks at the providence of history from a self-centered point of view. The center does not exist for its own sake; it exists to relate to others. In order to stand there you must forget about yourself and worry about others. The center is a perfect location for give and take in 360 degrees because there is no one degree that is hidden or unseen. That center includes all the nations, all the peoples and all the world, going beyond nationality and race; most of all, that particular position transcends past, present and future.
Who is eligible to become the center? White or yellow or black, the color of your skin doesn't make any difference. The person who has the internal qualifications ions is the one to take that position. There is no rule which says a diamond must be there; wood is OK, or stone, as long as it meets God's qualifications. That position is in the role of the Messiah because the one who takes it will complete the recreation of the universe. The Messiah is coming for the universal purpose and he will consummate it.
When we divide this sphere in half vertically, the central dot will be right where a horizontal line cuts through the center. Even if this particular horizontal line is positioned correctly, if the vertical line does not tome straight down the angle is off. There must be 90 degrees between the lines; it is not good enough if you have 87 degrees and are satisfied. In that case the sphere would not be perfectly round.
Human desire is to be like this one central person who will bring the solution to the past, the solution to the present, and the solution to the future. In English we call this person a panacea, a cure-all person, and everyone who goes toward the goal of being like him will have hope. Having some hope always connotes having a goal and the goal is that ideal position.
In human history there have been many ideologies and philosophies, but what kind of belief should we profess? What would be the central way of life? Most importantly, that ideology must be agreeable to all mankind in the past. Also, not only Americans, but even the communists must be able to agree with it in the present. Furthermore, that one way of life must also be upheld as the ideal by all future generations.
The world is so big that the consequences of even a small deviation from this ideology would be very great on the worldwide scale. If I were not a religious leader but a scientist I still would have studied this subject, computing all these relationships and explaining them scientifically. You have all been random thinkers, but now since hearing me you know you have to focus your thinking on that one dot.
If there is a God, what does He maintain about this? You might tell Him, "I'm sure You are an almighty thinker, and therefore, You probably think differently from the rest of us." Then God would reply, "No my son, you are wrong. I was already thinking this way long before you ever speculated about it." That's why you can indeed say He is God; If there is a God, He must certainly be thinking of this cure-all for all mankind, past, present and future, and of how to make that dot into a sphere and roll it anywhere in the universe without disturbance.
This role as the definitive central point to the world has always been taken by a religious person. Such people may have failed again and again, but they always had hope. They have always said, "When the Messiah comes, then we will solve everything." No matter how great a philosopher or scientist you might be today, mankind long ago reached the conclusion that there was no way to get the world under control without fulfilling the role of this one dot. Every ideology has been tried, and there is nothing left to be tested. Even when the academic world is in despair, however, one kind of people still claim to have hope; they are religious people, and they teach that hope can still be fulfilled one day.
The more we are opposed, the greater we will become
Even nowadays when the fanatically religious people are drooping and discouraged, there is one super-crazy group which persists in believing that there is still hope. This one group is fearlessly going everywhere, and even when people resent them and try to push them aside they come right back regardless; there is no place they don't go. Even when people try to chop you down and leave you as a stump, you still say there is hope. You are super-crazy!
Imagine one super-crazy man, as unyielding as a rock, who refuses to be dissuaded from proclaiming hope, even though the entire world hates him. Why will he be the winner eventually? If this one super-crazy man who is shedding tears at knowing the situation of mankind is confident that what he says is the truth, it is possible that the spirit world and even God will respond to his tears. The four billion people here on earth might not respond to him, but still with the spirit world and God he has the majority on his side.
He would look very miserable and very crazy here on earth, and the whole world would applaud if his parents kidnapped him. All the Christian churches and all the nations would be glad to see someone get rid of him After awhile his parents might think that they have e successfully deprogrammed him, but how would they feel if a week later that person were found to be back in the same place? Even if his arms and legs had been chopped off, a new arm would grow out! Then they would realize that the more they attack him , the greater this man will grow. When the churches came against him he would grow another arm, and when one nation came against him one more leg would grow out. The more they oppose him, the greater he becomes! Would all that external attack be beneficial or harmful to him?
If such a law is in action in this universe, would you like to be welcomed or opposed by everyone? If we are the religious group that grows with persecution then the more persecution we get, the greater we will become. Is there any power under the sun which can stop us? By persecuting us the world thinks that they are getting rid of us, but in reality they are only making us more perfect. Once perfection is achieved, we will look so attractive that everyone will forget themselves in admiration and will create a museum to put us on display.
Suppose one of our members appeared one day in a village where people had always been very negative toward the Unification Church. When those people discovered how outstanding this person was and how inferior they were to him, they would give anything just to see him. If a champion Olympic runner came and challenged us, even he could not begin to compete. A great artist would not be able to surpass one of us in talent. If I were in that position, would I be better than an Olympic champion or an artist? There is a way to defeat even a world champion: I don't think of training for just one certain race; instead, I have been running my entire life and still I have not come to the end. As far as painting is concerned, I have hardly even started to paint. I have just been selecting colors and brushes, and I might paint a portrait that will take many generations to complete.
Do we have a university? I have one in my heart and mind. I have been preparing and some day it will grow into the greatest of all universities That is how I think. The main thing is that I never stop. I just march continuously toward the goal. Has that march been only fun? No, there have been all kinds of hurricanes and bad weather along the way.
Would you prefer living a life of fun, or spending your whole life striving to reach the ultimate target? Ours is not a road of laughter and smiles, but such a bitter, serious road that others would not even want to look at you twice. Furthermore, you must shed many tears and even risk your life. Would you still choose this way? Even the people closest to you and your professors with their wisdom would say you were crazy, but would you still go? People might hate you so much they would steal your clothes and attack you personally, but would you still go?
No matter how many tears you might shed and how much you might suffer, you must just persevere and ultimately hit the target. Once you did that, the whole world would push you into the central position, whether you accept it or not. This position is like the narrow neck of the balloon, and once God blows air through the hole the balloon will instantly start to expand. That's what I envision happening. In order to achieve such an unchanging goal you will suffer more than anyone, shed more tears and blood and work harder. Then ultimately, if this universe has a museum, all the generations will want to go there to study God's masterpiece of discipline.
You will be the greatest of all masterpieces because more sweat and labor and tears will be found in your life then in any other life. Once you achieve that one goal, nothing better could be displayed in the heavenly museum. It wouldn't matter whether you were a man or woman, black or yellow. Whoever perseveres so extraordinarily for the sake of God's dream will be the showpiece of the museum of heaven.
God gave the responsibility for educating children to their parents
Even if what I am saying is an illusion, mankind needs such an illusion. It is God's mandate that somehow mankind learn to live together, and there is no possible way to achieve this without a doctrine like this coming to the central Position. Even if this were not spiritual al reality, it is human necessity. Otherwise, we are de destined to crumble and nothing will remain. God is a reality however, and the spirit world is a reality. God has already made this goal clear and all we have to do is live it. A man has to be chosen as God's champion who discovers the incredible truth of heaven and spirit world and who proclaims it to the world ,trying to bring mankind toward that goal. God has no choice but to choose him as champion.
Why must God choose that kind of man? The reason is very simple -- that man is just like God Himself. As a member of the Unification Church you are on a road of suffering, but ask yourself how much you have suffered You have joined this great journey to the ultimate goal, but you are still in the kindergarten stage of suffering. You are not even old enough for that actually; you are like a baby in the cradle who has many dirty diapers of all kinds and who doesn't even realize how smelly he is. Still I smile on you because I have hope. Everyone has to start out from the crib, even the future President of United States and I have to patiently nurture you and let you grow.
You have to go from kindergarten all the way through graduate school and get a Ph.D.; then you will become somebody. This morning one of my children was excited because there is no school tomorrow, but as a parent I think differently and I think that American schools give too many holidays. If a little child going to kindergarten hears about how hard Harvard University is, he won't want to go to school, but as long as children have the attitude of obedience and listening to their teachers and parents, they can go one step at a time all the way through college and ultimately they will become responsible adults.
No society or government can be responsible for the education of children; God gave the role of educating children to their parents. Your relationship with your parents is the determining factor in your relationships with all levels of society. Whoever is disobedient to his parents is normally disrespectful to his teachers and is a troublemaker in society. When a child is rebellious to his own parents, he is rebellious toward his own nation. The parents' role is the key.
The parent is the ultimate teacher of the child, the final authority to control and discipline him and give him a purpose in life. Parents might purposely let their child suffer in his younger days for the sake of his future, but every such deed is done for the sake of the child, not for themselves. When parents are firm, it is automatically an action of service to the society and nation.
Children's basic attitudes are always inclined toward playing and being rebellious; they are born with a free spirit and their parents must always be alert to train them, even sometimes spanking and pushing them to study. Parents might sternly say, "This is not for our own sake. You must become a person who can make a contribution to society and the nation." Even if parents must use force to discipline their children, the children will realize later it was the best thing for them.
Sometimes parents think very selfishly, however, informing a child, "You have to study so that when we get old you will be able to feed us. You can't put us in an old age home. You have to get us a car and take care of us." That is not right. But parents are not normally motivated in that fashion; they say instead, "Don't worry about us. You must become someone to serve the society and nation and world. You must benefit the world before you die."
In many cases you didn't have that kind of close supervision by your natural parents, and that's why you went looking for other parents. You came to the wrong one because I am greedy; I don't want you to be a museum piece just for America, but for all of heaven and eternity. You members resemble me in that you are also greedy about going out to win the world. Sometimes it is extremely painful to go this road and receive the discipline and you cry, but you still want to go. If we are really that kind of group then our being here is an extraordinary event in heaven and earth and everyone has to pay attention to us. White people are not normally inclined to embrace the other races and many people warn you, "You might end up with an Oriental or black husband!" You say, "So what? I still want to go."
I speak very candidly and don't use flowery sentences, but there is no point to bearing around the bush. This is the bitter truth that I am telling you. Is it needed by America, by Africa or South America? It is universal . I made up my mind a long time ago that I would grab all kinds of people and push them ruthlessly down the road of suffering and tears. I want to make them almost crippled from going this way because I know that it is not easy to come up with a masterpiece. You have to have something which ordinary people cannot compete with and that is why I am determined to push you all the way down.
Swallow pain for the sake of the world
You may wish you didn't have to live this life, but you know row in your innermost hearts that what I am saying is right and that you cannot avoid it. Then you say, "Father, you might as well give me a big dose." Mirrors play an important role for women. Look in one and evaluate yourself; has your face shed enough tears? Consume every ounce of energy to shed more tears and go toward the ultimate goal, and tell the rest of your body-your breasts and hips-that their time has not come yet. That's what women should be like. Do you like that idea?
Why is March 1 such an important day? 3 plus 1 makes 4, the heavenly four positions; 3 is the past, 1 is the present, and 4 is the future. It is all present here on March 1. We can also say that 1 represents God, the future and looking up. Who shattered the heavenly 4 positions in the Garden of Eden? Because Eve committed sin, evening and darkness represent the fall. Why did women get the name Eve, and why does ''evening" mean what it does in English? Even in its language the Western culture is foretelling that women are more likely to bring degradation. The night of culture or darkness of culture, comes from women. The worst kind of cunning evil originates with women because a woman planted the seed of sin.
I am thinking of a new word for evening because our women are different. "Morning" is not the best word either because it has the same pronunciation as "mourning." You never knew the connotations of all this, so an Oriental man came to each you. ' Noon" is a cold word; in Korean "noon" means "snow." Noontime is normally hot, but the word noon sounds cold. I don't think you feel Good to hear all these observations, but this is how I interpret it. There is much moral degradation in America, but it would take a tremendous amount of time to re-educate both men and women. I decided to emphasize educating one sex, and my choice is the women. Women have the quality of tangibility from morning to night, and this is good for heaven because you need to change. Stubborn men don't change too quickly, but because women are more flexible, I chose to concentrate on them.
It would be a beautiful strategy to bring all the women of the world into the Unification Church because then all the men would climb over the fence to get in! Do you clumsy guys agree? So far the most elite of fighters have been women, and they have had more commitment to God than the bungling men. That's the truth. You men may think you are stronger, but you don't know Unification Church history. People are reluctant to go on the MFT, and even I don't like the MFT. You don't welcome bitter medicine, but you know the necessity and benefit of it and that benefit is why I push you.
I pushed men and women equally to the MFT, but the women always became the champions. You women are really my allies. What you look like doesn't matter; you might have prominent lips or beady eyes or a sharp nose, but that doesn't make any difference. I look at your heart, and as long as you are obedient, you pass. I will not decide by external appearance who should be in the heavenly museum; it is decided by your spiritual qualities.
Which nationality will send more people to the heavenly museum, American or Japanese? I don't feel good to think that only Japanese women would end up in the heavenly museum because they are so small and have slanted eyes and bad teeth. But I cannot bend the Principle; I pronounced that those chosen would not be designated by external looks but by heartistic qualities. If the Japanese women have won more victories then they should be chosen.
Be honest; don't you American women feel defeated by them sometimes? Have you made up your minds that you and also your generations to come will be ahead of the Japanese? Are you preparing? In order to achieve that goal, you should be absolutely obedient since you are the first generation to meet me. o you want me to encourage you to meet me. o you want me to encourage you to take it easy and have fun, or should I just push you out ruthlessly, having you chased out in tears? Your yes sounds like a no! The sound of "U.S." sounds like, "I didn't say yes; you said yes!" That's the American mentality; "I didn't say that! You said that!" God certainly knew Americans very well when He gave their country that name. Instead you should say, "I. S." "I Said yes."
American women are terrible material and I want to turn them into heavenly material. You American men are like thieves and robbers, so don't worry about the women; worry about yourselves. Aren't men supposed to be the leaders? Did you relinquish leadership to women? I will push you out three times harder because you are men.
I would like to share one episode from the Hungnam prison camp in North Korea. Men were given the hardest forced labor and weren't even given breaks to go the bathroom. There weren't even any bathrooms around, so the men just went to the bathroom as they worked. They would improvise by digging a hole in the pile of lime fertilizer they were working with, but even then they could only spend a few seconds; otherwise, a beating would come. When they had a bowel movement they had to push it out fast, like cannon fire, and be finished. I might push you harder than those soldiers who guarded the prisoners in North Korea, and you men might not even have time to go to the bathroom. Do you still agree to go this way? If your yes is a sincere one then the consummation of human history will be finished quickly.
Swallow pain for the sake of America. Ruthlessly move forward for the sake of the world. Will that bring the degradation and fall of America? No, America will survive and prosper because of you. Because America will be transformed, it will automatically correspond to the heavenly museum. Since you are already destined to die sometime anyway, why not give your tears and sweat that will leave some benefit for mankind? How deep and wide a decision that is. Each drop of your sweat will shine with eternal glory.
If you die giving your entire life for the world, then even if your grave is at the top of the Himalayas, people will make pilgrimages to memorialize your spirit. Jews and Christians go to Israel and Jerusalem, and Moslems go to Mecca to worship at their religious origins. The residents might want to discourage people from coming because it is already so crowded, but no one can stop people from coming. Jesus' dramatic death on Calvary only lasted one day, and without having authoritative evidence from 2,000 years ago, how does anyone know that it actually took place? Nevertheless, people still go.
Many people died in even more miserable circumstances than Jesus, so why should people want to see his place of death? Jesus' death was different because he was totally committed to God and humanity and he knew he was dying for that purpose alone. In the Unification Church title and external appearance don't matter; a church leader who is not totally devoted to the cause of the people would be far less important than a factory worker who knew nothing about the Bible but who served the people.
Unless God's tears of sorrow can become tears of joy, restoration will not be possible
Why am I giving you this message on March 1? Do you like sadness and tears? You have always thought tears and sadness were to be avoided, but is that the right concept? Sorrow and tears can be the most valuable things when you suffer for the sake of God and mankind. They are the two tools you can use to win God. You can't win Him with money, knowledge or power, but with dedicated sorrow for others.
The highest mountain in North America is Mt. McKinley [Denali] in Alaska. Even if you were a diamond the size of Mt. McKinley, you still could not buy God. God is not that cheap. But sorrow on behalf of God and humanity will win God and He will become yours. God is defenseless before tears and sorrow because He Himself has always been harboring those tears, and anyone who experiences the same thing will move His heart. Only those who understand that sorrow can truly understand God.
Suppose one area represents heaven and another represents hell. God's heart is in between. To reach heaven you have to voyage through God's heart, through God's position, and God's territory is filled with tears and sorrow. Nevertheless, unless you go that way, you will not reach heaven. Since God is almighty, He is also most sensitive to pain and sorrow. No parent here on earth can suffer more than God because He is almighty, and He suffered the deepest sorrow of all when He lost His children. God is most sensitive to tears and sorrow because He is almighty in every area and He has the capacity to know tears and sorrow more than anyone.
How can that suffering God be comforted? No one is capable of offering Him comfort; however, God will listen if you shed tears and then grab Him and say, "Let me suffer Your sorrow. Now I understand You fully." That is the only way God will listen, and He will not only listen, He will embrace you. God has the single desire of shedding different kinds of tears, tears of gratitude for the serving sons and daughters who shed tears on His behalf.
The fulfillment of restoration would not be feasible unless someone comes to shed more tears and go through more suffering than Adam and Eve, someone who can truly touch the heart and nature of God. That's the only way Adam and Eve, who brought sorrow and tears to God, can be restored and total world restoration be made possible. Unless we can turn God's tragic tears into joyful tears, there is absolutely no way the restoration of mankind is possible. That is most logical.
Who is the Messiah and what are his qualifications? The Messiah is the man who comes to the earth destined to suffer more than God, shed more tears than God and do more work than God. By totally bringing himself down to the most hellish suffering and from that point coming forward to comfort God, he can make God's tears joyful tears. The person who is candidate to become Messiah will suffer not for himself but for God. He cannot be the center himself; God will be the center of everything.
The Messiah would not pray for God's help. He would plead for God's trust and tell Him that he is here to liberate God and save Him. This is not my own concept; when I opened the door to the universal truth, this is what I found. My thinking is that the Unification Church is not here to take advantage of the Messiah, but to join him and take over his position for the sake of God and humanity. That's how I see your mission.
If God is filled with tears and suffering, do you think He will feel vindicated listening to this sermon, or will He say, "That's wrong. I am enjoying my life and having lots of fun"? I want you to know that because God is eternal, He sheds a day's tears and a year's tears and eternal tears; He has become a prisoner of tears. Who is going to liberate God from His tears? God cannot liberate Himself. Only mankind can bring that salvation to God, mankind as individuals, a society, nation and world. That way of life alone can liberate God's tears.
There are more tears to be shed by the Unification Church and by you. I shed many tears in my life, and still I feel I will shed more. That is the kind of teacher and leader you are following. Do you just want to play and take life easy? Under this principle I will give you greater and greater missions with heavier burdens. Only those who make up their minds to make this their destiny, even before I give it to them, shall become the remnant of the Unification Church.
To restore one home takes lots of energy -- even a lifetime of devotion is needed to bring one family back to restoration-but we are not talking about only one family. In one generation we want to accomplish the universal restoration which has been lingering unfulfilled for many thousands of years. I have been talking about it for many decades and pursuing it in Korea, being rejected there, then in the rest of Asia and now in America, and I have upset the entire world with that idea. Whoever does that must indeed be a crazy person.
This path is nothing but a way of misery, many tears and much hardship. Do you think I am insensitive or dumb? Any time I take a beating or see some sorrow, I must shed tears. When those situations come to me I always think of God first, that I am the person to liberate Him. Then I cannot help but comfort Him and tell Him I am fine. I know also that God has shed many tears because of me and that is why He cannot forget the Unification Church.
People who communicate with the spirit world sometimes ask to know about me, and the answer comes to them in the form of desperate crying for days and nights. I cannot be described without tears.
If you are without tears in the Unification Church, you cannot successfully go this way. I cannot feel close to people who do not know the taste of tears. Only those people who know tears can understand me. Because that is the one shortcut to God, there must be people like that here.
I am living in the present, but my tears communicate with all the saints in history. Now people come against me because they do not know me, but once they know then the world will respond in tears. Among those who don't know me there are many striving for goodness, many who are more dedicated to unselfish causes than you are. Among the many Jews who oppose me there are many who are more dedicated to God and humanity than you. Among Christians there are many who are more dedicated to God and mankind than you.
Because of you, your children will go to heaven with tears of gratitude
Many Christians today have given up on God and a theology has appeared about the death of God. It is like children telling each other that their father is dead while he sits in the room with them. How incredible that situation is! It is even worse now than after the fall of Adam and Eve. Sometimes I think about why Almighty God allowed this situation to happen and how He could tolerate hearing such a pronouncement, but I arrived at the answer that the "God is dead" theology would make the "God is alive" theology more attention-getting. Eventually we will have the attention of the world.
Going through the sea of God's tears and sorrow is the way you reach heaven. There is a stone wall there, but the Unification Church has finally been successful in drilling a hole through it with this ideology. You are trying to climb up the wall to reach the hole, but you can't see the hole until you get there. Since you can't climb easily, I am giving you a lift. That's how you are growing every day.
The entire world will look at you as crazy, but finally you will see the hole and plunge into it. The first person will go through a small hole, but as more and more people go through, it will get wider and the last person won't even have to climb up all the way!
Then the entire world has to recognize it. Even non-religious people will eventually wake up and the whole world will see the way into heaven. Until they see the hole they cannot go through, so they will have to come to our way of life as the only way to find it.
Everyone pays tolls on the New Jersey turnpike, so why not make a big heavenly turnpike and have everyone pay tolls? What a way to fund raise! The time will come when you won't have toe go out fund raising because people will come and pay. But there won't be any challenge or joy in that, right?
In the midst of tears, can you harbor hope for heaven? Jesus bore the cross at the age of 33. Our determination is to bear the cross before the age of 30, but to bear a living cross instead, to bear something worse than Jesus did. You know you can do it by following my instructions. For whom will you do it though? For God and humanity. Your descendants will put up your picture and remember you with tears. Adam and Eve brought the fall and brought the tears and tragedy which mankind has suffered for many thousands of years, but your descendants will say that their ancestors transformed that sorrow into tears of joy and tears of gratitude.
In tears of sorrow Adam and Eve went to hell, but because of you your children will go to heaven with tears of gratitude. Tears with a selfish motivation will bring you down to hell, but tears for God and humanity will not only bring you up to heaven, they will also liberate God.
There are two kinds of yes, one which leads to hell and the other to heaven, and which road you take now is up to you. We have a responsibility to erect the heavenly kingship upon the foundation of tears and sorrow. Only by being kings of sorrow and tears can we truly erect the Kingdom of God. God is grieving more than any king or emperor who ever lost his kingdom. The heart of such a king must be most sorrowful upon seeing his kingdom destroyed and his children and wife taken away by the enemy, but God's heart is even more sorrowful. How can He forget? When God looks at anything in the universe it only stimulates His sorrow and brings back the memory of that tragedy.
Now one champion has emerged to say, "Let me take over. I will bear the responsibility. You rest."
The Unification Church is truly one family, one home under one Parent, and our prime mission is to educate parents who can raise true children of the kingdom, children who will serve the society, nation and world. I want to make you the people who shed tears for the public purpose. This is different from the ordinary thinking of the world.
Is this philosophy necessary for your home, nation and the generations to come? Even if you don't accept it now, those who adhere to it will conquer the world, and when that happens you will still have to follow them. I know this is the unavoidable destiny of all men. We just happen to be the first crops. If my family comes against me, I will cut them off. If my society comes against me, I will cut it off and go on. If my nation comes against me, I will cut it off and go this path, because when you find God you can restore everything you ever had.
My grandfather
March 1 is a special day for Korea; it is the anniversary of the independence movement which began in 1919, one year prior to my birth. At that time Korea was under Japanese occupation, and on March 1 all Korean people rose up in protest, trying to secure their freedom and national independence. On that particular day patriots were shot by the thousands, sacrificed for the national purpose. As long as Korea remains a nation, those who died in the March I independence movement shall be enshrined by the generations to come.
One of my grandfathers participated in that movement. He was the pastor of a church, and he secretly gave up not only his own fortune but those of his brothers and sons. He secretly sold everything and took all the money and gave it for national independence. It amounted to $70,000, which was a great fortune at that time. No one knew that he was doing something righteous with that money, and everyone blamed him for being crazy and selfish and for taking everyone else's money. Even when I was a child I was told that my grandfather was a crazy person who lost the family's money in gambling. After his death, however, he was vindicated.
He was chased by the Japanese police for the rest of his life and sometimes tortured, and there was not even one good day for him after that uprising. He lived like a beggar. All the small children in the family were taught that he was a villain who brought the family's bankruptcy and downfall. After the liberation, which came in 1945, my grandfather returned to his home town, but everyone there treated him so badly that he left again without a word of explanation. If at that time he had said that he had spent the money for the sake of the independence movement, then undoubtedly he would have been admired and had a statue erected in his memory, but he wouldn't say a word. The Western mind can't understand this, but it makes sense in the Oriental way of thinking. He didn't want to reveal anything until national recognition came. For the rest of his life he was like a beggar, living like a gypsy.
Syngman Rhee was president of the temporary government in Shanghai where the money was taken, and he knew what a patriot my grandfather was. He tried to convince my grandfather to take an important position in the new government, but my grandfather refused, saying that securing a government office was not his intention, and later he died. If he had accepted a government post, the dispensation might have been different because President Rhee persecuted our movement in its early years. If the President had known my mission, he would have laid out a red carpet on the national scale.
Even my grandfather's children didn't know where he died or was buried, but recently he appeared in a dream to my cousin in Korea, telling him that he had been teaching school in a certain village when he died. He gave precise directions to the place where he had lived and where his body was buried. My cousin was amazed at the clarity of the revelation, so he woke up and wrote it all down and sent a letter to that address. One month later a reply came from the owner of the house, who confirmed that what my cousin had seen in his dream was true.
I sent someone to bring the coffin from its humble tomb in the mountainside to be reburied with a ceremony of great honor. No one except God knew that my grandfather had certainly lived his life in tears and heartbreak. His value cannot be diminished, even after his death, so God allowed him the power to appear to his own descendant. Now he is nationally recognized. We found his diary, which described how he had lived in his last days, and once and for all the misunderstanding has been cleared away and his entire history has been revealed. Those in the Moon family who misunderstood him had to repent. Now he has become a monumental pride to the Moon family.
Just as he did, I do not want to say to the world what I have done while no one understood me. In time, future generations will know the truth. Recently in Japan there was an attempt to chronicle my life story, and with good intent the Japanese wanted to show my deeds to the world. But I don't like that idea too much. I don't want that kind of book written while I am alive. I want to hide everything behind the scenes, and if it is worthy then God will reveal it after my death. That is much more valuable.
Because today is such a special day in the light of the history of Korea I chose the topic, Sorrow and Tears. That particular formula is working on every level, whether in a society, nation or world, but here in America few are trying to live up to it. This is what we need here, however. Unless there is an "abnormal" group of people who really worry about the nation and humanity and God, this nation will have no hope for the future.
There will be a conference of international leaders here today. If national leaders really harbor this mission in their hearts and go back to their nations to willingly shed tears for the sake of God and humanity, they will be messiahs to their nations. National leaders who suffer now in the worst way of living shall be immortalized by the people of their nations in the days to come. Those who live today in nice homes, without doing too much work, shall be buried in sandy ground and the worst shame will come after their deaths.
Because Jesus' death was miserable and tragic, God provided the power of resurrection for him. If you can work in tears and sorrow and die in a tragic manner, God will resurrect you. Don't worry about it. If the leaders live that credo themselves and die in that fashion, they shall be resurrected. The Unification Church as a whole will suffer now and go forward in tears and sorrow. You may think it is miserable, but I want you to know that it is the only way we can secure the power of resurrection for our Church. Do you welcome it? Would you live that credo? God bless you all for eternity. Let us pray.