Sun Myung Moon
June 10, 1973
Belvedere Training Session
Translated by Won Pok Choi
I am sure everyone here wants to become an important person. An "important person" means the central person in a group, one whose standard is above the average. In order to be a person like this, one must be higher, deeper and wider in many aspects than other people. Before we can set up a standard for comparison, we must be able to distinguish between what is perfect and what is imperfect. Then we will determine specifically in what aspect one must be better than others in order to be an important person.
Man has five physical senses. To be an important person, one must be more sensitive in seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching. He must be more sympathetic and understanding of other people than the average person. He must be better in his conduct than others. In what way can we become better than average in all these ways? This person must not look at things, listen to things, speak of things, or act on things carelessly.
He must be prudent in every action in order to excel. When he looks at things, he must be able to gain something positive from them. In reading books or in listening to music or in speaking, we must train ourselves in order to surpass others. For us to act naturally in accordance with the environment, we must have rich experiences. The same thing applies to the way we think about things. In order for us to train ourselves, we must be able to enrich our minds through meditation and prayer.
In order to become an important person, you must reach the standard of an expert in many fields by going through repeated training. That is, we cannot become such people unless we go beyond others in doing many things. After repeated practice, we become confident and capable. Practice alone can make us capable; then each one of us can become expert. In our everyday life we must always train ourselves to look at things, hear things, talk about things, and act on things in a constructive way.
Our life is, after all, an arena of training. Whether or not a man's life is full of things helpful to humanity in accordance with the purpose of life God has set before us will decide the position of this man in comparison to others. To help humanity takes practice and training. Therefore, we must be able to see things which ordinary people can't, hear things which ordinary people can't, act on things which ordinary people can't and think about things which never even enter the minds of ordinary people. Then, we are no doubt going to be important and wonderful persons.
How many such people one group contains will determine its importance above other groups. How many such people a nation has will determine whether or not it is a nation of more importance than any other nation in the world. I am contemplating how to make such important persons out of you in order for us, as a group, to influence the world. It is true that you want to become important persons, and our church wants to train you to be those very persons who will be the most capable of all.
For that I want you to go through multifaceted training, so that you will become versatile persons confident in everything. I want to train you to see things which others can't. I want to train you to hear things which others can't. I must train you to say things when others can't and I must train you to think of things which others can't. And, more than anything else, I want to train you to act on things in a way which nobody else can. If you cannot put into practice what you have been taught, you are going to be a failure.
I want to make you into people who will never retreat, even in face of difficulties, in any field of life. However well equipped you are after good training, once you retreat, you are going to be a failure. You must be able to digest and overcome every difficult problem, and ever advancing forward, you must prove your capability. When you take on an important responsibility in a group and successfully solve problems for other people, then the whole group will recognize you as the central figure.
You are here going through this training in a good environment where you can learn to see things, hear things, think of things, and say things in the new and best way. What we learn here is complicated. So, the way we think is complicated too. Is it bad to be so complicated? If complexity has well-organized consistency, it is precious.
When we look at all things, the more complicated their structures are the more beautiful or valuable we regard them to be. An important person must have the capability of manipulating complicated organizations and complicated personnel. In order for us to become important persons, we must be capable of digesting a complex environment and putting it into proper order.
Therefore I must train you in as many ways as possible by putting you in complicated environments. What we learn through the five senses becomes our knowledge. When we gain knowledge, we want to put it into practice. How big an influence you can have, how many-sided an influence you can have, how cubic or horizontal an influence you can have, will determine how important a person you will become.
We are now living in a civilized world, with the utmost in scientific achievements. When technology governs the manufacture of things, you use the division of labor, forgetting about the value of the work itself. This is the phenomenon occurring in the 20th century. We are apt to forget that every part exists for the purpose of the whole.
It is always a problem to connect the smaller parts to make the whole. If an individual cannot recognize that he belongs to the public and not to himself, he can never find a happy place where he can live in harmony with others. The general attitude of people living on earth now is so individualistic that they don't try to seek happiness with other people, and they entirely forget the whole.
There is a vast difference between the attitude of people who seek happiness for themselves and those who seek happiness for the sake of the whole. Most people have lived by sacrificing their environment for the sake of their own individual happiness. But we come to the conclusion that we must sacrifice ourselves -- instead of sacrificing the environment -- to make the whole of humanity, of which we are parts, happy.
Our way of thinking is entirely different from others'. Centering on our family, too, we must think of it as belonging to the world instead of to ourselves. You cannot be really happy if only your family is happy, and others are unhappy. In other words, you feel real happiness centered on your family when other families around you are made happy by yours. The same is true with a nation. A nation is doomed to fall if she thinks of her own interests without minding the interests of the other countries around her. If any nation is going to prosper she must be ready to share her prosperity with other nations. Any nation cannot exist ignoring the world.
As individuals we cannot think of the world of mind and the world of body separately. According to the Principle, we know that our mind and body correlate to each other. You must bring your mind and body into a harmonious oneness. The value of your personality will be determined by the number of people you can be harmonized with.
In order for you to become an important person, and for yours to become an important family, tribe and nation, you should strongly take the initiative in becoming harmonized with other such units -- even in complicated circumstances. If you are so selfish as not to think about other people and your environment, you will be left alone in the end.
There will be no one who cares about you. In that way you will draw yourself into despair and self-ruin. Therefore, individualism is very dangerous. In this age of science where people have become so analytical and put more stress on partial values, individualism has developed. We must think that we can live because our nation protects us.
We must think that we can live because our families are protecting us. You must think that you can live because your spouse is protecting you. In order to revolutionize this world we must be able to remove the concept of "I" as the principal being. Personality revolution starts from this point. The revolution must start right here-right now! If we strive on like this, great victory will be ours.
Our eyes have been seeing things in the wrong way, so we must deny all that we have seen and look at things from new and different angles. Our ears, too, have been hearing only things that will benefit us as individuals, so we must deny all those things and hear things from new and different angles. Our tongues have been saying things in defense of ourselves as individuals, so we must deny all those things and be able to speak for the benefit of other people as a whole.
We have been thinking of only ourselves as individuals, but we must revolutionize our way of thinking and think in terms of other people. Our way of acting for the benefit of ourselves alone must be corrected too. Only by revolutionizing all those things in ourselves can we become the central figures important to others. Why are we gathered here?
We must know that we are here to revolutionize ourselves before being able to revolutionize our nation and the world. We must put more value on other people than on ourselves, and be ready to sacrifice ourselves. This is exactly opposite to what mankind has been pursuing. However difficult it may be, we must pour out our desperate efforts to revolutionize ourselves like this. Otherwise, there can be no hope for the humanity which is now in despair and in darkness.
Jesus came to the earth for this purpose; and we are here for the same purpose. Isn't that true? We must give up ourselves -- that is, we must deny ourselves before being able to live as a central figure of utmost importance. The idea of individualism has caused corruption and ruin in human society, so only by going in the opposite direction can we find the true way of life.
This is exactly what Jesus meant when he said, "If you want to lose your life, you preserve your life; and if you want to gain your life, you will lose it." He wanted to revolutionize the world in which people were so self-centered as to think only of themselves without minding other people. Nobody likes self-centered, arrogant people. If one is so humble as to exalt others, he is liked by everybody. We are faced with the problem of how mankind, in these latter days, can remove the liability to judgment. There is only one way possible. That is, we must be able to revolutionize the idea of individualism into altruism. This is the most important thing.
Now I imagine you have learned the only way to erect the new ideal world. Could that be the self-centered way or is it the altruistic way? The altruistic way alone can reanimate and revitalize the world. Without this being done, we cannot build the new world. We must abandon the way of thinking, "I eat for the sake of myself, I sleep for the sake of myself, I learn for the sake of myself, and I do anything and everything for the sake of myself."
How can we remove the "I" concept? If you put the ultimate emphasis on yourself, you will always be faced with fighting and quarrelling. You must have the idea of, "I am for you, I am for all." You must think, "I am born for the sake of my parents, I am born for you and for the sake of all." If you want to become the central figure of ultimate importance, the short-cut is to shift your self-centered idea into an altruistic one.
Take the example of myself: If I were selfish and self-centered, what would I have to do with you? From my part, too, if I were self-centered, I wouldn't try so hard to push you like this. I have enough things for my livelihood. I can easily get what I want. But here I am going through hardships, having to bring in money in order to spend it for you.
Here we have members from many nations: Germany, France, England, Italy, Austria, Holland, and so on. What am I going to do with them here? I am going to utilize them for humanity and for the whole world. When you look at a German boy, you must not think that he has German eyes, a German nose, German ears, etc. You must not look at our members as being German, French, or Italian.
We must first of all look at them as being the loving children of God. In this relationship alone can we entertain the idea of true brotherhood under God as our Father and under the True Parents as His representatives. Then we can overcome the delicate and complicated situations that exist among nations and melt ourselves into oneness as brothers and sisters, thus developing our valuable human character.
Living with you here, I am often faced with an awkward situation. Sometimes I speak freely to attentive Korean members, for quite a while; but all of a sudden I find you people sitting there with blank expressions and blinking eyes not being able to understand me. That's why I am desperate in studying English. By studying your language I want to reduce your painstaking effort to understand what I say.
The language barrier is the greatest obstacle in unifying the whole world into one. The people of the world should one day assemble and decide upon which language all people should use. As to which language that should be, you here all know this. You would want to use the language of the nation of your most beloved ones, wouldn't you?
According to the Principle that language must be the language used by your True Parents and your true brothers and sisters. That language is going to be used in the Kingdom of Heaven for eternity. What language would God want you to speak? It must be the language which God had to use to make Himself understood by His most beloved one. That is, God would want to use the language of the True Parents who have nothing to do with the fall and sin.
Everything starts from love or by the persons who truly love each other -- namely, true couples, true brothers and sisters, a true family. In a world like that all mankind will enjoy a common way of life with a common culture and civilization entirely different from what we used to have. When a person is asked, "What would make you the happiest person in the world?" he would immediately answer, "To have a spouse whom I can really love, and who really loves me."
If you are with the person whom you love most, you feel like giving anything and everything you own to that person, and you would think and say that everything that is yours belongs to that person, too. Or you would even think of that person without thought for yourself, because before the person whom you love most you must absolutely and completely throw away self-centeredness. You must and you can do this.
Would anyone want the person he loves to say to him, "I love you, but no more than myself." Or, would you rather he said to you that he loves you more than he loves himself? Which of the two would you prefer? When you are in love with someone, would you want him to think of himself first or you first? The answer is too clear! You would like him not to think of himself. Do you want to receive perfect love? Then you must totally deny yourself in loving that person.
If you really believe in that kind of love and you really practice that kind of love between parents and children, brother and sister, husband and wife, without thinking of yourself or your possessions, your love will be perfect and lasting. You cannot deny that ideal love will start and will last for eternity when you think and do things for the sake of the other person and humanity as a whole. If you are sure that your mate feels true love for you, would you hesitate to deny yourself for his sake? You would not feel any reservations about it.
Now we have learned that to deny one's self and to sacrifice one's self is the primary way to receive love from others. What kinds of people are called patriots in your country? Those are the people who would abandon their lives for the love of their nation. The sons and daughters who sacrifice themselves for love of their parents are called children of filial piety. The parents who would sacrifice themselves for love of their children are called true parents. The brothers who sacrifice themselves for the sake of their brothers are called true brothers.
Those who sacrifice themselves for the sake of all humanity can be called true men. Jesus was the man who sacrificed himself for humanity. Jesus was the first one who was awakened to the fact that he had to die for the sake of God, God's nation and God's people. Therefore, people admire Jesus, and God loves him. Both God's love and true human love were revealed through Jesus. A new world made its start through Jesus.
Self-centeredness cannot bring about anything ideal. The ideal can be realized when people do good for the whole. If what we take delight in makes others feel grief, then we are not good. When you rejoice with others, your spirit will whirl around in every direction -- you will feel ecstasy. We have learned that in order for us to become important persons, we must not be self-centered but altruistic. When we do things for other people, we do things out of our love and not seeking our own knowledge, position or wealth. It is desirable that we use our knowledge, position and wealth out of our love of people.
As you see. Western people and Oriental people are different in many ways. Their complexions, the color of their hair and their eyes are all different. How can you expect an Oriental man like myself to love you more than his own people? Would you expect me to love the enemy more than my own country? When we know that Communists are our enemy, should we kill them or leave them?
The evil nature of Communism must be hated, but we must love the man, even though he is a Communist. In that way we must be more than what they are. We must surpass them in seeing, hearing, thinking and acting. In that way we must be able to inspire them and let them know what we are and what we have so that they will come to our side. We are responsible to teach them to compare and to choose the better way.
Unification Church members must be prepared even to marry the highest Communist staff members in the future. That is, we must be ready to marry even an enemy. Japan and Korea were enemy nations; Japan and the United States were the same. But I want to put these enemy nations into harmonious oneness.
Centered on our ideology, Korea, Japan and the United States are on the way to becoming one, transcending national boundaries. Suppose there are two Japanese, two Koreans and two Americans traveling and three of them had to die. Which three would the others choose to die? Don't you think they would all choose those whom they felt to be more of an enemy to them?
This is how it is with us. For example, I as an Oriental man would want to have Japanese members sacrifice themselves for the sake of American members. Centered on myself, Japanese members and Korean members have so far gone through more difficulties than you American members. My intention now is to bring Korean and Japanese members to America to have them go through more difficulties than you.
Suppose Japan and the United States declare war against each other? We must transcend nationalities. There are no differences of nationalities in our group. Even in the case of war you must love Japanese members, though others may call you traitor or pro-Japanese because of it. You are right in what you do and you must be proud of it.
Would you abandon the vast number of American people in the outside world for a small number of Japanese members of our movement, or the other way around? Though we may be small in number, if we are united against evil, the world will be revolutionized and the new history will begin, centered on us.
We are an international group. Are we simple or complicated? Do you think our group is so complicated that there is no possibility for unity? Even though our backgrounds are so different, we know we can be united in harmonious oneness. Isn't it worthwhile for us to try to do this?
Suppose there are an Englishman, a German and a Frenchman living in the same room and not able to understand each other's languages. Then, what will happen? They are compelled to become deaf and dumb. But they cannot go on for long like this; they must begin to communicate even if by gestures or motioning. Then they will be amused at each other and can smile and laugh; and their hearts can be melted into oneness.
Isn't that true? Suppose there are an Oriental and an Occidental living together -- the former eating rice and the latter, bread. Can they always prepare two kinds of food for every meal? Each must concede to the other, deciding to eat Oriental food one meal and Western food for another -- or possibly to have a third dish which they both like, or even to have a dish that is both Oriental and Occidental.
If you love each other and if you are concerned about things of higher dimension and more value then there will be no problem between you. Of the three men, who will be most loved? It is natural for the others to love the one who has done the most painstaking work. In doing this work this person must overcome the unfavorable circumstances without complaint, and be ready to help others by sacrificing himself.
Then this person cannot help but become the central figure and the most important of the three. The German members here must not love only Germans, but they must love America and American members more than their own people, transcending national boundaries. The same thing applies to the French, English, and members from elsewhere.
Through this handful of people working for this country, Americans will come to love Germany, France, England and all the rest. We are here for that purpose. But it is not a simple job. In our movement, we must not have complaints against each other. Digest your complaints with the warmth of love. Won't it be wonderful that, through our people, even national hostilities will be melted away!
You recall that in our last blessing I blessed an Englishman with a German girl, though they were ignorant of each other's languages. Even in speaking words of love, they need an interpreter. How interesting and how wonderful that must be! Each wanted to love the other more. They are an international couple and already a historical one.
However, they may not be a handsome couple. They are the bridge between the two nations, thus opening the gate to reach out to the end of the world. They are already a historically important and great couple. If the couple becomes happier than any other couple, they will be exemplary and their names will remain for later generations.
For this couple, their relationship as husband and wife must be very complicated. At times there must be moments of distress. They must have compared their life to that of other couples around them; to their grandparents and parents and couples among their neighbors and among their friends.
Looking in the mirror, the husband could have said, "I am a pretty handsome man, and I could have married a nice girl from my own nation." And the wife could have thought the same of herself. But they both tried their best to overcome their difficulties by finding the providential meaning of marriage. They have been successful in that. If it were you, could you do this?
I always thought I could marry any woman if by marrying her I could realize the will of God at the soonest possible date. Are you ready for that? [YES!] Are you willing to marry a Negro girl? [YES!] If it is the will of God, could you marry an old woman? I was ready to marry any woman for the sake of God's will, and then He gave me a pretty girl.
If I, from the beginning, had wanted to have a beautiful girl, God would have given me the ugliest one. Here, again, the Bible verse applies: "When you want to gain your life you will lose it; when you want to lose your life, you will preserve it." Those who think they are handsome or beautiful must be ready to have an ugly person as a mate, and be confident to make their family the happiest one.
If you were in the position of parents, would you love only handsome sons and beautiful daughters? Or, would you be more concerned with the ugly or disabled children you might have? It is natural for parents to love handicapped children more. How much more would this be true with God, just as the parents relate in this way to their children? God, too, will be more sympathetic and loving to underprivileged and handicapped children.
The higher position you are in, the greater depth you must have. That means you have to reach out to the lowliest ones too. This is not easy; you cannot do this overnight. What is an ideal family? Do you think a couple is ideal who lives by themselves rather than with their in-laws? You Americans don't seem to like to live with your in-laws. But in our Principle it is more ideal when three generations live together as a family.
Then, wouldn't you love to live with your in-laws? [YES!] Is it more ideal for a group to consist of people of many nationalities or of people of one nationality? You say it is good to live with people of many nationalities, but is this a simple or a complicated life? In order for you to get along well with members from six nations you must have the attitude of loving and doing things for the sake of six nations, at least.
In Jesus' day, even the twelve disciples of the same nationality could not become one. But my mission in the future is to make people from at least twelve nations into one -- or else the world will not have the foundation to be united into one. I am planning in the future to have twelve couples representing twelve nations live together centering on me. At that time, could I tell you I love you more because you are white and you less because you are black? There is no discrimination of color in God's sight, since all are His children.
Which would be more ideal, for twelve families to live together or 120 families to live together? Or, for 1,200 families to live together? The bigger and more complicated it becomes, the more ideal it can become when well organized. Then would the simple life be better than the complex life? Just imagine, is God leading a complicated life or a simple life?
God is leading the most complicated life in the whole universe. Then you must be ready to live the most complicated life in the whole world before being able to become God's children. God never has a moment of relaxation unless His children do their part in good order. If God were a self-centered Being, He would feel like escaping from His children.
However, God is giving away His whole Being for the sake of His children, without thinking or caring about Himself. He chooses a more complicated life for love of the whole. God is a God of love, and His love is infinite and limitless. God is, in a way, looking for misery because He is seeking His children who are living in misery.
We must resemble God as His children. God is for everyone and all people, and He moves with the ardor of love in every direction to reach out to the world. That's what makes Him the central Being. It is because He is the central Being that everyone longs for Him and loves Him.
How is it with our group? Do you love me? Can you say that with confidence? Even a small handkerchief, when it belongs to your loved one, has a great sentimental value. If you find any person who is in love with your handkerchief because it belongs to you, wouldn't you feel attached to that person? Would you call him mad and hate him? No!
If you really love me, you must find out what I love and whom I love. I love altruism; I love all humanity and the entire universe therein. More than anyone else, I love God. If you love me, you must do the same. If I have hatred at all, that is hatred toward Satan, and I want to conquer the satanic world. If you really love me you must do the same and hate Satan, and join in the effort to conquer the satanic world. That is how to love me and how to receive my love.
God created Adam and Eve in His own image and likeness. If you call me your True Parents, you must assume my image and likeness. If you are going to be central persons of importance, you must have God's love as the core of all things. Love does not seek reward. When you go out to the frontline and you calculate that you want to be the State Representative or Mobile Unit Commander after hard work, then you cannot be justified by God.
With that way of thinking, you can never gain the goal or become an important person, because it is a self-centered attitude beginning with yourself and ending with yourself. But by reaching out to many people in all directions, you will have a wider range with yourself as the figure of central importance. Self-centered people confine themselves in a limited area, but for those who live for the sake of other people, their world is limitless.
The more important and the more valuable a purpose you have in your life, the more complicated your life becomes -- with more width, breadth and depth. If you are going to be the central figure or the leader of a number of people, you must serve them rather than be served by them. You must train yourself to work hard and give the credit to other people before being able to have many people under you or around you.
I want you American people to go the opposite way to what you have gone up to today. If well on the way you find this to be the wrong path, what will you do? Retreat? Turn away? I want you to make sure that it is the right way before you begin. Are you sure it is the right way? [YES!] We know that America in on the decline, and we want to save this nation from ruin. By our doing this, we can defend this nation from the evil power.
America has many problems: juvenile delinquency, racial discrimination, and the threat of Communist infiltration, to name only a few. The problem of juvenile delinquency is serious because the corruption of the young people means destruction of the future of America. We are ready to take responsibility for the solution to this problem. In order to do this there will be many difficulties, but only by overcoming these can we pave the way and make it straight.
This is going to be a real battle. We must take less time to rest, less time to sleep and less time to enjoy ourselves than other people. Who else can carry out this mission but ourselves? No one but those who really love America and who are ready to love her for eternity can do the job. Right from the beginning, if you really mean to do things for the sake of other people and for the sake of the whole, you must be ready to take the heaviest responsibility on your shoulders and leave easier things to others. You must be persevering with this difficult task which lies ahead of you.
What if it should take us ten years? What if it should take us twenty years to carry out the mission? What if it should take us forty years to realize God's will? What if we have to hand the mission over to the next generation? You must be the true parents who can educate your children in preparation for such a mission. We will take up the work which other people hate to do, and which they can never do. In this way, as time goes by the world will turn the other way around. Those who are trampled underfoot will rise above the level of those who did the trampling.
We may be without knowledge; we may be without power; we many be without the wealth which is now governing the world. Then with what can we win the world? We can do it with love alone. Our love is not the kind enjoyed by the worldly people. Ours is a revolutionary love that is full of adventure. In the world where people hate to go through adventure, we will fight with the weapon of love.
What we gain as the spoils will be more than knowledge, more than position, more than wealth. People will witness this and it will make them want to come and join us. As the incarnation of God's love we can realize this, while America and her people cannot do it. We must stand in the vanguard of others for the ideal of love to be realized in the world. Love alone is our armament.
We are like David before Goliath. David was without knowledge, without position, without wealth, but he dared to seek adventure with faith in God and for love of people. Then God could not but help him to succeed in his mission. We are only a small group before the giant bloc of the Communist people, who occupy half of the whole population of the world. And this is a great challenge for us. In a way, we have declared war against the evil power in the democratic world too. How to realize God's love is the only question.
When our movement is known over the world, it will stir up the world. You must be able to play the role of a farmer when you are in the fields, laborer when you are in the factory and office worker in the office, so that you can really love any type of people in any walk of life. Centered on that love, we will love individuals, families, nations and the world.
For this, training is needed. The evil power is so deeply entrenched that we must do our best desperately to annihilate that power, risking anything. We must stop the flow of the sinful history which is carrying us to ruin. Will you march forward or retreat? In order for us to overcome the obstacles we must march forward even though we may die on the way.
We must forget ourselves and live only to love others and mind the environment. Without this attitude we cannot overcome our surroundings, where anything can happen at any moment. We must be ready to tackle anything of any description, without being particular about our likes and dislikes.
From the year 1972 when I began my project in this nation, I knew many difficulties were coming. I was ready even to be imprisoned. Whatever may happen, I cannot retreat. Have you ever thought this much for the sake of your country? If you want to avoid prison life, you must train yourself to live in a way that is more difficult than prison. Then you can be exempt from prison life.
I must help you get over the obstacles by pushing you harshly. Are you determined to go ahead, never retreating? Am I driving you hard for my own success or for the sake of America? If it is for my sake, you can stop doing it right now. If you really think I am doing this for the sake of the nation, you must humbly accept it and follow me. Therefore, no complaint is possible here.
I have never once complained in the course of restoration. I have had many good reasons to complain and say for example, "If God really loves me, how can He put me through such difficulties and torture in prison life?" But I knew that in that way God was going to give me more grace -- more love.
The more complicated and difficult it becomes on the way you go in search of love, the stronger and brighter the love becomes -- not weakened and faded. When the degree and scope of difficulties of what you are doing is expanded, your efforts to overcome them will be fruitful -- just as after the toil of summer months, the plants are fruitful in the fall.
Don't be discouraged when you go through great difficulties. Your success will be measured in proportion to the degree of difficulties which you go through. In the summer months, if you've toiled very hard, working on your crops, the harvest will be more bountiful. If you work with this kind of heart and attitude, you can never be exhausted.
I hear people saying that I am a man of iron. I have my secret and a knack of keeping going like this. A few days ago I went to Richmond -- which is a 13 hours drive from here. Do you know what I did? I prepared myself thinking that it would be three times as great a distance. Then when the destination was reached, I thought, "Oh, we've arrived already!"
In this way any distance is easy to overcome. One more thing is that I don't allow myself to doze off in the car. I take interest in looking at the scenery along the road. I imagine myself dashing along the road set by God. Then I immediately think, "I must work in this land where the people are so blind and unknowing. How much more God has to worry and help me!"
I feel suddenly deep sympathy for God. Then I can enjoy the drive even though I am tired. More grace comes, and I feel my spirit renewed with more spiritual power; and I want to go even farther when I am at the destination. I forget fatigue. If you are hungry, don't complain that you are hungry -- be ready to go through even more hunger.
Then you will not be hungry any more. When you are tortured in prison, you must get over it by imagining that more torture is to come, and think that by being tortured you can conquer the world. Only those who have overcome their circumstances with this kind of resolution can understand this.
It is past 8:00 and those who thought Master would speak only until 8:00 are beginning to feel restless. Those who expect to work ten hours and who have to work twenty hours will not be able to endure it when asked to work longer; but those who expect to work 24 hours and just have to work 20, will feel easy.
In North Korea under Soviet Communists, I went through a torture of being forced to stay awake for one week. I endured it by thinking, "Let's see who will be the winner -- my torturers or I." If an ordinary man were forced to stay awake for one week, he would fall asleep even while speaking. I can sleep with my eyes wide open. I trained myself to do that in my prison days. I often utilize that method when I am too sleepy.
When I experienced severe pain and became black and blue from torture in the prison, I would cure myself by a certain exercise, which I also use when I am very tired. Even now, I can keep going even with only one hour's sleep every day. If I were to try to train you all now in that way, you would all want to escape from me. I can speak twenty hours a day every day for a month in succession. From the beginning of a speech, I don't have a concept of a time limit on how long to speak.
Now you are meeting God, who has longed to meet you for 2,000 years. Can your conversation be limited to an hour? The message I receive from Him, I want to convey to you in my talk. I always think that I can spend day and night with God, and I am ready to spend any amount of time with Him, working together with Him.
Could you tell your loved one not to call during the night? I want to train you in such a way that you can be mobilized any time, day or night, whenever I call. I may not feed you properly or give you proper sleep. Even then, you cannot afford to complain. The amount of time you have spent with a person and worked with a person will decide how close he is to you.
You must know that in order to become important persons you must be able to inspire people with God's love, and help them to harmonize with each other with you as the bridge between them. Here again, you need training in many areas. In proportion to how much time and energy you put into it, you will be more or less well trained.
How many here have not gone through one week's fasting? All of you must do that. In order for you to carry out God's will, you may have to stay awake many nights in prayer. Yes, it's absolutely necessary! Everything goes step by step to reach the ideal standard. You European members are lucky that you have come to America to be trained. But what if I sent you to the southern tip of Africa for training? Are you willing to go there? [YES!]
In the army you are forced to go wherever you are stationed even though you are reluctant to go there. Here I don't force you to go, but you must be willing to go. Just imagine, would you be happier to meet me in Africa? What would make you happier: to meet me with many other people in America or to meet me in remote Africa after having been so far away from me, missing me all the time? If I should meet you in the jungle where only wild animals are roaming about, we would embrace each other in utmost joy.
Would you rather meet God when you are happy or when you are lonely? How wonderful it must be to meet God when you are in a difficult and lonely situation, where you are badly in need of Him! It is still better if you can say to Him, "Don't worry about me, I am all right and I can take care of myself and my problems without your help. Why don't you get some rest?"
If you pray to God for help to meet twenty people today, while you only met ten people yesterday, that kind of greed in prayer can be justified. Don't ever pray to God that you meet fewer people than the day before because you couldn't handle all those people. Prayers are only answered to those who try their best to fulfill what they prayed for.
Prayers will help strengthen you to prepare for the goal you want to attain. When a person who has fulfilled 20 percent of his goal prays to God to help him to fulfill 100%, God will be ready to help him and Satan cannot accuse him. You need prayer and God's cooperation when you want to pour out more energy, more effort and more sacrifices. Otherwise your prayer will not be justified by God and it will result in corruption and ruin.
I am a man of such disposition that once I start doing things I will never rest until I completely carry them out. For instance, even in my childhood, when I was curious to see what was behind the mountain, I would go there at all costs to see what was behind the mountain. God seems to like this kind of person. In the year 1965 when I made my first world tour, I wanted to cover 48 states of the United States and I did it in 40 days.
Then, I visited everywhere I wanted to visit. At that time I visited 40 countries in haste, blessing the holy grounds in 120 places. Now that you are here for training, you have a little leisure time for yourselves, but I will not allow you to have such time on the frontline. If you want to be a great and important person, you must not draw a line of limitation for yourselves -- a line that limits how much you carry out. You must do your best, never thinking there is a limit to your capabilities. You must cling to God at the risk of your life; and He has got to help you.
In order for me to come to this point, I have had to do many things at the risk of my life. It is natural that victory and success will not belong to those who do things without risking their lives. If you are drowsy, poke yourself with a needle. It is possible that in the moment you doze off, the tower you have built up will be torn down.
You must train yourself in such a way that you can resist seeing things that you badly want to see, hearing things when you really want to hear them, or sleeping when you are in need of sleep. You must train yourself to be a good listener, twelve hours, twenty hours or even a year. But then, you must have the confidence that as soon as a speaker stops speaking, he will be yours and you can occupy his mind.
As you see, I have small hands, but with these small hands I have done practically everything possible. When you are studying, I want you to study all through the night; but when you have the time to play do it thoroughly. Even though a person may love to play, I would play so enthusiastically with him and with such boundless energy that in the end he would give up and beg me to let him sleep.
It is a common practice for me to stay up the whole night doing things. I used to take even women members to the steep mountains for physical training by hunting wild boar. If they pressed me to go back, I would purposely stay another night -- meaning to train them. If they asked me to continue, then I am reassured of their conviction and would stop.
Everything I do to you is to train you. Do you like this idea? How do you like nine hours of lecture every day? You may complain and say that it is summer and you need air conditioning, but I am deaf to your pleas. If I were to be so generous as to install air conditioning for you, then how would you be able to endure life in southern Africa where there is no air conditioning despite the heat? Here is how to overcome the heat: It is hot now, but in only a few months it will become so cold that you will miss this warm weather. Imagine that you must be trained now to endure the heat, and after some months training you will be rewarded with cold weather.
If you endure the environment and digest hardships only as much as other people do, then how can you be greater than they? Because of my age, I know I cannot see as well as I used to. But sometimes I am compelled to read without my eyeglasses. And do you know what I do? For the first few minutes everything is blurry and I cannot see too well, but in the next moment my gaze is fixed and the letters become clear. Once my eyes are well focused, I can read without once blinking my eyes. I have trained myself to keep from blinking my eyes for even a hour.
You need training in many aspects and in many ways. You must train yourself to give up and forget the person you love, at the very moment that person betrays you. You must so train yourself that at the time of failure, you can immediately go back to the starting point again. Your once beloved one can betray you and become your enemy. In that case you must be able to part from him without shedding even a single tear.
Who can decide that what you have done is a success? There is always room for greater success, or a higher standard of accomplishment. Don't ever be satisfied with what you have gained. You must be everlasting ambitious. Until we crush the last Satan of the evil world, fight on with high morale, while always training ourselves as I have explained.
You must go through training with this attitude, with great concern for many aspects of many things. You must be grateful every moment -- all through the training course, gladly assuming your share of the responsibilities. Then you will become great and important person.
Scanned by Hans-Juergen Hutzfeld, 14.01.2008-Duesseldorf.
