Chapter 3 - Youth And Completion

Section 1. Youth

1. Youth Is Like Spring

Everybody likes spring. Winter and spring are very different. Spring, summer and autumn are very naturally connected. But winter and spring are very different. That's why the changes in our heart and our life remind us of the transition time between winter and spring. When the spring comes you can see the nature sprout. We say that spring is the time when the whole creation is changing. Also when the seasons are changing we can see seasonal birds migrating. Also we can see the flowers start blooming in the spring.

I think that in the spring each being in the creation is displaying its best qualities. Looking at what is happening around us in the spring, a desire wells up deep in our hearts to follow the example of nature. When spring comes, we may simply think that "Spring came and it's very nice"; but it is much better to think that before this it already had to go through a hard time with the other seasons. In the same way, if we look at the whole year, we can see that, together with the seasons, everything else is also changing. Therefore not only nature has this potential to change, but everything else too. Even in one day we can see something similar to the change of the seasons. We can imagine that morning represents spring, daytime summer, evening represents autumn and the night winter. If you ask people which they prefer, morning or evening, most people will say they prefer morning. Why is that?

In the night everything is covered by darkness, but when we greet the morning, it has already passed through the period of renewal, and our feeling about it is more sweet and stimulating. If someone looks cheerful in the morning, this morning mood can make a difference throughout his whole day. Therefore, a good mood in the morning gives a good mood to the whole day. When we wake up in the morning after a good rest, we naturally have a nice mood.

2. The Tendency Of Teenagers

The period of being a teenager is really a good time. Why is it so good? Because they want to be proud of anything. The times are like that when you become a teenager. If your family has something even a little bit better, you want to be proud of it. Adults worry about rumors even though they may have good things. But during the teenage years they like to bring up the topic in the tram and on the bus or anywhere else, if they have something good in their family.

Likewise the teen years is the time when they like to be proud of and expect to get such objects of pride. Why is such a time good? Because if they have a good thing in their mind, they show it off as it is and make as if it belonged to everybody. If you have a mind that likes to be proud of your good things, it means you have a strong absorptive power which seeks to make any good thing your own. Do you understand me? (33-274)

The teenager has the basis in their mind to like everything. But it depends on their way of thinking, what they like and dislike. A genuine good thing must be eternal. If you have a self-centered good thing, it is not absolute. (33-289)

If you look at younger children, every child wants to become the best. You do too, don't you? Do you have such a mind that you want to become number one in the world? [Yes, we do.] What about the young women here? [Yes] Even if she has only been to elementary school, or even if she has not yet entered kindergarten, all women have a dream of becoming the best in the world. All of them have such a mind. Man does too. No matter even if they have no education and their body is seriously handicapped, all minds have the source to become the best in the world. Is that so? [Yes]

Then if we go to the best, highest place, will we find the true person there or not? Many people are seeking the top position for themselves. One person chooses this way and another chooses that way. They try to gain the highest-looking position. In whatever way, all mankind is competing with each other to reach the top position as their true hope. Definitely we have such a desire. (39-292)

Would you agree that man originally has such a desire? People want to make this world into their own possession. Children are no exception.

Surely as man receives life, everyone wants to become a world-class person. They think, "The world is mine," and try to become the highest person in the world. Everybody has such a mind of wanting to become the best. The human receives such a mind at conception. Then what kind of God do you have? If he led your life toward suffering so that you could not achieve such a native desire, how would you understand God? Even if you had bad parents, they would at least grant you to achieve your dream once if you persisted for a long time, wouldn't they?

Then what is the way to make this world your own? It is simple. Become the son and daughter of God who created the world. There is no alternative. You cannot achieve your dream by fighting with the world. If you become the children of God, everything will belong to you, because what belongs to your father belongs to you. What about your father's apartment? Can you call your father's apartment your own? Are there any such children who say, "This is not our apartment-it's our dad's apartment"? No matter how poorly qualified the children may be, they say, "It is our apartment." If we think in such a way, we can discover the way to become the best in the world.

Please strive to become the children of God and attend Him as your Father-then you will come to achieve your desire. Eventually you will have a lot of sources of pride. (48-76)

Usually young men have very hot desire. They dare to think Baektu Mountain (the highest mountain in Korea) fits in their pocket and to drink the Pacific Ocean as if it were a cup of water. This is the fearless spirit that youth must keep. (151-68)

3. The Attitude Of Youth

1) Have a Big Dream

If you are a youth, you have a dream like the youth. It is the hope! Our hope is to live catching God by the right hand and grasping the world in the left hand. How fine it is! (87-21)

When a young person has hope, he should not dream just with men in mind. Certainly men are changed through ideology. (87-11)

You must have a big dream. Even though the present reality is harsh, you will belong to God if you live with the dream of the future, and accept the present reality for the sake of the future. God will remember such a person.

Do you like it? [Yes] You must know that such a dream is not over in the present time; moreover it is the source of joy for the future.

Then will you yearn for the future hope under easy circumstances, or under difficult and severe adversities? Which is more valuable? [Difficult and severe] Why is that so? Because then the final results will become all the more wonderful and joyous. So, are such people going to just play around? How shall they pass the next ten or twenty years continuously and steadfastly? Or hesitating and wavering up and down? Which is better? [Continuously] That is the right way. (98-291)

2) Discover Your Aptitude Early

What do you think is the most fearful things! To me, it is to be completely immersed in something. As if you were immersed in something you like very much -- you should hold onto God like that. In the Bible, we find the passage "Always be uplifted in heart," which has such a meaning. Do you want to hold on to God? [Yes] Then do you realize the way to hold God? [Yes]

How can people become famous in this world? If someone is very greedy to become such a person, he absolutely will not be. I don't think so. If such an avaricious person gains such fame, he will pass away. He cannot be blessed. If you are given a duty, accept it joyfully. You will invest much more time in it -- even day and night, for ten, twenty or fifty years -- for your entire life, because you are doing it with delight. In this way you will bring success.

That's why you need to choose the delightful things right away even from your young age. Then if you concentrate your effort on this with joy throughout your whole lifetime, you will become a world-level person. How was Rev. Moon able to found the Unification Church and become such a world leader? I was attracted more than anything else by God's heart, and from my very childhood I never changed my mind right up until now, regardless of any difficulty or life and death crisis. Thus I became the Reverend Moon of today. There was no other special way. I never thought, "I am tired. . . this is too difficult. . . I am falling down," even in my dreams. I went with the attitude, "I had better not even think; I had better not even die." Going on in this way, the more I moved the more I developed.

If I visit a tropical place, I try to like it even though I am pouring out sweat and my clothes become completely soaked. Sometimes people say, "Rev. Moon is a very strong man." I heard this many times. But it's not true. When I start something, I really like it. I try to like it more than anyone else. That is my merit. There's nothing else.

When people watch me work, they think as if Rev. Moon was born for this work. If I work on the farm, I do it as if I was born for this work. Because I have such an attitude, even young men cannot outdo me. Which mind is better as you work: "Let's finish quickly and get out of here," or "I don't want to stop doing this work"? If you enjoy this work, will you get tired of it? Think about that.

Now you have received the key to success. We were aware of the new field. When I look into your faces, I know at once whether you have hope or not. When you act joyfully, you cannot forget it. Please try to test if my word is true or not. (76-273)

3) Make a Plan

Your life is only once. So you must make a plan. (24-86)

The adolescent period is the most important time of your life. During this time you determine and set up your goals. So this is the transition period of your life. You must make your life plan at about the age of 18. This time is like the crossroads in your life. It is very important how to understand and how to go over this crossing. The most important point is how to keep on going steadily throughout your whole life. (21-82)

One point you should know, is that you should make your life program. When I observe my own life, the age from fifteen to thirty was the formation stage, thirty to forty-five was the growth stage, and forty-five to sixty is the perfection stage. I set up the plan in three stages. So I worked to prepare everything by the age of thirty. From the age of thirty, I challenged in everything to influence the entire cosmos. (103-59)

4. What Is Necessary For Youth

People have different ways to succeed, according to their personal temperament. Some are quite capable of gaining success within one year. Some others needs twice or three times more effort in order to succeed. So you must determine that you will fulfill the goal even over a period of thirty years, if you cannot do it in ten years.

We Unification Church members need to have strong conviction. Reverend Moon made effort to have it from the age of 18. Your conviction is your most important attribute. In order to strengthen it, sometimes you need to go up to the top of a high mountain and sometimes you need to go deep down into a valley. Witnessing is also necessary. Do you want to experience witnessing?

What is the next thing necessary for a young man or woman? Desire. When you analyze your mind which desires to do something, it contains up to four hundred stages. However, once you really gather your desire to do something, it is just one stage. Do you really have the will to carry it out? [Yes] How much do you want to do it? If one of your hands is cut off and your leg is snapped, could you do it? After that, if both your legs and both your hands are cut off, can you be pleased, saying the words "No problem!"? Would you carry out such a task, in which you had to cut off your neck and then you could accomplish what you sought? [I will do it.] You are very afraid of such a thing, but your answer is all right.

To answer "Yes" is easy. But to practice in such a way cannot be done at once. So the most important thing is to have the attitude of investing your whole body and even your life.

In the past when I went to the mountain with my friends, I had breakfast early and invited them to go up with me. I tried not to become the last during the climb. Even if I were not in good condition, I prepared everything for the climb. If it became really difficult, I prayed like this: "Dear God, I will do it!" and then I challenged. I did not like to climb just following people. I invested my very best, and then I prayed to God. If I am not leading in front, at least I have to offer some condition such as "I am a man with such a determination and will." You need such a will. When you climb the mountain, your will must be such that you are ready to bring back a wild boar on your back.

You can find in desire the power to pursue all kinds of goals. What kinds of birds are found along the Han River? It is summertime so it's very hot, but how cool it is on the top of the mountain. Let's go and expose ourselves to the wind. Ahhh! How wonderful! We'll be able to see the capital city from up there. If people have such a desire, then their penetrating minds only become more and more determined, and then it is no problem to overcome whatever situation in which we find ourselves.

Since childhood I have been looking at a mountain and thinking, "What is that mountain's name, and what is up there?" That's the way I have been thinking. I most certainly went there to see. I clearly knew everything in my village. If there was a pond, I knew where its outlet was and even where there was something unusual. If there was a large eel, and I wanted to catch it but couldn't, then would I drain out all the water from the pond and then catch the fish!

Here is another story: There was a big carp in a pond that it was crucial that I catch. I cast out a fishing line to catch it. However, instead of the big one, I caught only small fish, because there were lots of them. So when I would catch the small fish, I would release them, saying, "Go! You, little one!" and again I kept going for the big one. You would never know the feeling I had when I finally landed it, unless you have had such an experience yourself. In fact, I suffered up until the moment I caught it -- but that suffering was washed away by the feeling I had at the moment of catching it. If you want to have a feeling like that, you need to have an experience that can bring such a feeling home to you.

Looking at the youth nowadays, they are very quick witted. When one says, "Why don't we go together?" then the others answer, "Okay! Let's go together," although in fact they don't really want to do it. Such a man will remain always a small-minded person. All he can do is tag along after and be indebted to others. There is nothing else that he can do. Therefore, the will is the life of youth.

To satisfy the will, you need to undertake an adventure. If you want to gain quick success, you need to challenge correspondingly greater adventure. That is not a plain, ordinary adventure nor a one-sided adventure but a full-fledged adventure in three dimensions. Therefore, you must know that we need the perseverance to overcome great difficulties. In order to acquire this, the sensation of nervous anxiety must become dulled in you. You must become dull like a toad. There are many things to learn from the toad. You must learn from the toad, when you see how the toad gets up in the morning and sits basking in the sun and blinking his eyes. And also how the ox stands there chewing its cud and meditating deeply. You must team such meditation. It is very necessary for you.

Human beings need patience. No matter how good an ideology might be, it will not work without patience. You must have great patience! You need to pass through ten years remaining constant. Now I speak a lot, but it is no problem for me to not speak for a month. When I was in prison, I didn't speak for several months. When I speak, I can speak well on any subject, but when I don't speak, I don't speak a single word.

That is why we need to take on a double adventure by our will. Without doing in this way, no matter how great a dream you may have, you will gain nothing but the last remaining dregs from your efforts to realize that dream. Then you will become the last.

You need firm courage to take on an adventure with the will. Courage! Courage is necessary. You must be willing to take any risk in the process of carrying out a certain task. If the nation wants to come against me, let the nation do so, and if the world wants to come against me, let the world also do so. Once you have checked and discerned the time, you must keep going on with courage. You have not the slightest fear even in prison. You need such courage.

You must judge the situation well, because, even in having courage, you must not be thoughtless. After judging the facts and the reasons clearly, if it is right, you must overcome no matter what the circumstances. You need to feel, "How regretful it would be if what we have prepared over several decades were to be destroyed." Therefore, prepare from now on. We can never stand in the sorrowful position of defeat, giving up all that we have prepared. Accordingly, we need courage that is capable of overcoming all kinds of circumstances. We must march on courageously at the expense of our lives. The victory will not come to us without such a process.

The victorious foundation can be achieved through such a process. To gain victory without going through such a process would mean to be indebted to others. This man standing before you today, Rev. Moon of the Unification Church, has never been in debt to anyone. I have lived with faith, carrying out this righteous quest, investing more effort than anyone else has ever done.

Then to whom will the victory return home? Because it was gained by heavenly fortune, it must return to the subjective Being in accordance with heavenly law. We cannot gain the victory merely as individuals. Once the victorious foundation is established, after this history and this time have passed, this world will be transformed into the world of glory. You must know that there is such a content behind what we are doing. So, what do we need? [The will.] And what else? [Courage.] Then we can go on to win the victory.

There are still paths remaining for us to walk on the way toward the world, even though our Unification Church has been walking up to this moment. I will continue heading toward the world. For this sake I will never surrender and never be defeated by anyone. What's more, I will not fall behind anyone in having the courage to tackle each problem, and will not lose the fight to anyone. Without marching on like this, we cannot expect the victory on the worldwide level. Even if you have won the victory at the national level, it is still far away from victory on the worldwide scale.

You must consider how you should spend the time of your youth and under what circumstances, keeping in mind the steps in the development of our Unification Church. Although you are living within the sphere of the ideology of unification and of God's will, still, in order to keep moving on toward the victorious world which Rev. Moon and God are longing for, you must know how to criticize your own state of being. In so doing, you must not become a small-minded person, feeling sorry for yourself in light of this self-criticism, but become a brave person who can develop given this opportunity!

Then what should you do from now on? You should become a prince or princess with whom the heavenly world agrees. Prepare yourself well in order to establish the glorious heavenly kingdom while you are yet in your youth. Become such a man and a woman able to do this! Do you understand? (24-84, 33-278)

You are now teenagers. When I was your age, I recognized that by all means I must not avoid historical sufferings, sorrows and lamentations in order to turn around the wheel of history. There must be national troubles in the process of saving the nation, and also there must be worldwide troubles in order to save the world. Why? Because this world is not a world of goodness; instead this world began with evil and is in the process of development toward the ultimate world of evil purpose.

Many young people dash about with desire and ambition in their hearts. They all seek to possess new and better things as their own property. Yet in order to have these things, you need to remove the conditions that stand in the way of the good which others cannot attain. Before doing that, you will be unable to have any relationship with those new and better things. You can easily understand that fact, both by looking at the past history and from the perspective of our day-to-day reality.

Therefore, the time has come to determine afresh with you who are now standing at this starting point. Now, in which direction shall I go? What shall I do? For what purpose should I live? What should be my way of life? What should be the contents of my life? What kind of person shall I become? When we think about these things, a lot of questions come up in our minds. (154-12)

The destiny of a human being is decided by the attitude (the faith and direction) that he or she has between the ages of 18 and 24 years old. After the passage of a long period of time, the fruits of the person with conviction will be revealed.

This is the characteristic of people: the person who has no conviction will fail even though he may be a brilliant man in reality, and the person who has conviction will succeed in the end, even though the course that he trod may be humble.

Even the intelligent man cannot surpass the person of conviction. Therefore the Bible says, "Do your best by heart, will and nature." But not by intellect.

The one who has faith cannot be broken though there be many reasons and difficulties: he will transcend and overcome. The results will thus be brighter. What we call faith does not only pertain to the faith of a person, but also to the faith of the universe, and beyond that, the faith of God. God's work is to accomplish the goal to bring the faith of both God and humankind into oneness: it was for this that religion appeared.

God's faith is the faith to accomplish the purpose of creation, meaning, substantially, to love Heaven, love humankind and then love the universe. In other words, God's purpose of creation is the realization of one world centered on love for Heaven, love for the universe and love for humankind. (10-15)

5. How To Become A Great Person

1) To Be an Important Person

Everybody here wants to be an important person. An important person is the one who takes a central position among the others, going beyond the norm. To become such a person, we must make a victorious foundation and set a superior standard. We have to distinguish perfection and imperfection in order to create such a superlative standard. We have to find the point in which we can surpass others. We have five senses. All of them should be keener than anybody else's -- in seeing, watching, listening, speaking, touching, and feeling. Then our mind should be sharper; and not only that, even our actions should exhibit a better standard.

What can we do in order to become such a person, to be better than others! Actions by themselves are not enough. We must have an internal content which goes completely beyond others. When you study books, you have to practice. You should practice reading, going through a training course to become a good reader. Listening to music is exactly the same. just listening passively is not enough. You need training and practice. Likewise, to become a great speaker you should attend seminars in public speaking and get plenty of practice. It is the same with thinking and the use of the mind. Meditation and prayer are part of the training course for your mind. A course of training is necessary in order to excel in each area.

To reach the level of becoming an important person we need to go through a training course. Otherwise a person cannot be important. Normal people cannot do this. We have to do something which normal people cannot do. It is not easy to become such a person. They should undergo trials and training and be confident to tackle any problem. What kind of training do we experience through our life? We train in perceiving, observing, listening, speaking and touching throughout our whole life.

Our life itself is a training course. To achieve a superior standard depends on how we unite with a certain purpose in our life and how we fulfill a certain course of training. Therefore we have to see, listen, speak, think and act in a way which normal people cannot. If someone becomes like this, he or she will surely become a great and important person. Likewise we can conclude that, for an organization to become central, it needs to have many such people.

Whether a nation can be a central nation in the world depends upon how many such people it has. Let's think about our organization. What kind of person do you want to be? I'm sure that you want to be an important person, and your church will try to educate you as an important person. Yet even though you might be very good at seeing, listening, watching, speaking and thinking, if you fall short in actual performance, you will ultimately lose everything.

Therefore you should not retreat, but advance in every field. Even though you have passed a tough training course, if you retreat you will be a loser. You must overcome all obstacles. You can be chosen and officially approved as a central figure when you become a person who can overcome and digest problems on your own, having the foundation of victoriously overcoming many difficulties and taking responsibility for all kinds of problems. That is why you are in the process of training in an environment where you can learn, listen, speak, and think new things.

Observing the way in which people receive stimuli through their five senses, and furthermore, centering on various problems caused by their actions, in whatever way these actions are influenced by some cause outside of themselves, whether that influence is on a grand scale or very minor, whether in just one aspect or in many aspects, and whether flat or multidimensional-by looking at such problems, we may decide whether a person is important and responsible or not.

Already, in order to become an important person, they must have gone through many types of training and discipline. As a leader, they do not just represent themselves; rather they must stand for the sake of others, as you surely know by now. (67-177)

2) We Must Think for the Sake of the Whole

What kind of concept does each of you have? You should be thinking, "I live for the sake of the whole." The right way of thinking is for the sake of the whole. There is a saying, "Work harder than ten people."

If there is a difficult, miserable situation that no one can deal with, I must take care of it. My hands must go there and my sweat and blood must be connected to there. This is the way of thinking we should keep, and in this way we must make effort.

How difficult it is to do so! Therefore we must be patient and endure. After going through such a course with patience and endurance, if we can keep a thankful mind and the heart to sing songs of gratitude, then we find we can make good relationships with others. All of this becomes the basis for partaking in joy. And then this joy is not just for myself alone; but it is all for the sake of God's Will. (44-38)

3) 1 Should Chastise Myself for the Good

When we go out to Satan's world each morning, we must have our eyes, nose, ears, every cell, even our mind, all prepared like armament ready for battle. Go out with the prayer, "Please let me return home again today without any accident." What a dreadful place is this world!

Then in the evening when you come back home, look at your face in the mirror. This eye, these ears, this nose, this hand, this foot -- all the time these things are the problem. You should chastise yourself "You! Didn't you involve yourself in sin today?" Challenge yourself with such a question. Look at these members of your body. Chastise and exhort yourself. "Look! Speak! Act!" You need to possess the ability to change and persuade yourself forcefully. Truly, the education being taught by the Unification Church is just like giving people the best weapon to grab hold of and smash Satan. (122-266)

4) Be the Front-runner!

This Unification Church now has the ideology which nobody can defeat. I as the Father must be the first to be involved in any kind of situation. In every situation, I am the first one to step in. This is what I have been doing all along.

Am I the number one in wearing glasses? [Yes!] How about you, do you like wearing glasses? [Yes!] (Father laughs) Actually, I am number one both in wearing glasses, and in being able to take off my glasses and throw them away! (everybody laughs) So how about you Europeans? Why don't you put on three pairs of glasses, four pairs, even five . . . ! If you wear so many pairs of glasses, you can work as if you had no glasses. It's okay. If you are able to do better when wearing glasses than without them, then please do so. If you can work better with glasses, please do so.

Well, how do you like sleeping? Other people sleep eight hours. How about if I sleep 24 hours plus one more makes 25 -- how wonderful that must be! Why sleep only eight hours? We can add one extra hour to 24 hours, so let's sleep 25 hours! [No!] So then what shall we do? Let's sleep minus 25 hours. (everybody laughs) In that case, if some of you sleep minus 25 hours, it would become a much different, good kind of problem!

We must be better than Satan's world in even one thing. Every village we go and visit, we must insist, "I am different than you." In any way you care to imagine, we are different. Don't just add one -- add more! So how much better can you do that yourself? Ten times more is better. A hundred times more is even better than that! Be the best! To whatever degree you do more is great. (81-134)

You Unification people, brothers and sisters of the family of Heaven, you naturally unite, without anyone even giving an order. You should become stronger than the Communist Party. Do you understand? [Yes!]

First, in attending parents. Second, in loving brothers and sisters. Third, in acting. We must surpass the others. Don't be defeated by them. just as North Korea has sent spies to South Korea, likewise in the future True Father will order our Unification Church members to go to North Korea. There must be no one who would not be willing to go to North Korea. Anyone who does not have the determination to go to that place cannot become a Unification Church member. We must became sons and daughters of God who can surpass them in our substantial practice. (23-295)

5) We Must be Tough and Unchanging

We put our Unification Church members into the Satanic world. If we were to speak about wood, what kind of wood are you made of? [Beech] Beech is not that strong. Uujubel Jujube? [Oak] Oak? [Yes.] Okay -- oak. Everybody knows the oak tree. You don't know what kind of a tree jujube is.

A tree must not bend. Even if it does bend, it must not break. It must be tough. It must be tough and strong. Are you Unification Church members tough! [Yes!] Because we must go into this world, we must become tough. So! Looking at this, is Rev. Moon a tough person or a so-so person? [Tough person] How much tough? [Like an oak tree] (Father laughs)

We must be as tough as raw rubber, and hard as oak. Then you must be as resilient as steel. Are you as hard as steel! [A strong person] You should be like that. Then when the winter wind blows, when it turns to summer, or the spring rains come, through all this you must be unchanging. Are you still changing, or have you remained unchanged? How about stainless steel? Do you like iron or do you like stainless steel? [Stainless steel] What is the reason for that? Because it does not change. (100-194)

If the Republic of Korea is the country to which the Lord will come, Korea must grasp hold of all the countries of the world, and must not shake. It should become such a harbor. In order to do that, how firmly it must be established! It needs cement, gravel, sand, and iron reinforcement bars. In order to construct a seaport, first of all, before pouring the concrete, you must weave a very strong structure with iron rods. What does an iron rod symbolize! It means a person. Out of all the different types of people, an iron rod means a strong person. We need strong persons whom nobody can bend and no one can pierce. Centered on faithful persons of constancy, chastity and indomitable spirit, we must weave such faithful people together. In this way, let us construct a facility to save this world all at once at the push of a button. We have such an historical mission.

If our Unification Church plans to take on this incredible mission, then, in making the concrete, what kind of position will you take? Will you be an iron rod? Will you be the sand? Will you be the gravel? What do you want to be? Think about this. You must be an iron bar. Have you become an iron bar already? Even if you didn't become an iron rod, you should at least become a small pebble. If you didn't become gravel, you should even become sand. If you cannot become sand, then you should become water to be poured out for the sake of the others. Water can be absorbed into everything. You must know about that. (31-146)

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Section 2. Characteristics Of Adolescence

1. What Kind Of Period Is Adolescence?

What kind of time is adolescence? It is the time when your mind feels like getting out and about. The mind has matured only to a certain degree, so it cannot stay upright but sways like a reed or a bamboo stick. It wants to get out of the body, while the body wants to find the mind. This kind of time is adolescence. Before adolescence, mind and body were traveling in parallel, but they come together during adolescence. The mind wants to move forward, to relate and to dominate the outside world, whereas the body wants to follow the mind. That's how it is. (140-20)

Everyone here, why do you think adolescence is a good time? Because it is a precious time for unmarried virgins, men and women. What do you think, those here who are married? Adolescence is the most precious time. Married ladies here, was it that way for you? You cannot but admit it.

Adolescence is the time you send waves of signals, to a distance, and you want to relate with things far in the distance. Do you understand? The more you have give and take, the more you feel joy.

It is the time you may feel that, "I am the best." When you watch a marathon, you may feel that you are like the first runner crossing the finish line, with style. "I came first in the race." You would like be a participant in whatever sport you see. This is adolescence.

At this time, no one denies that he is an author or a poet. All adolescents, for reasons unknown to them, are restless. They hum, they sing with their nose, ears, eyes, mouth, arms and their body. This is why they run around. Their eyes are restless, their ears, mouth, hands and every part of them, because they wish to relate with others.

It is the only time in your life that you have this kind of heart. It would be good to have this kind of heart all our life, but somehow it goes away as we get older, which is a bit of a problem. Is it good to have a fruitful time like adolescence in our life? This is the question. This age is what you experience in spirit world, which is the world of God's love. Because of that, when you are in spirit world, you live with features similar to adolescence. Do you feel good? There, your face always looks youthful.

During adolescence, if in the autumn you happened to catch the moment that a persimmon leaf falls off its branch, snap! at a gust of wind, after it had been swaying in the breeze, you will laugh, hee, hee, hee! People in general may be feeling sentimental, but not you. If you are serious in those moments, doesn't it seem rather depressing? You'll laugh as the last leaf falls off. If we compare the situation to human life, the last one surviving after the passing of many people, even when that last person is dying, an adolescent would laugh. As the fallen leaf is being blown about by the wind, he still laughs, hee, hee, hee! In such a way, they want to adapt to everything and take dominion over it. This is the time of adolescence.

When is the time you want to adapt and have dominion over everything in your life? At this time, emotions of different natures, which were bestowed to you from your ancestors, merge and are released as one. You not only want to give out, you also want to receive. Adolescence is like this, and it is good. (50-268)

Adolescence is the time when your mind is opening to love all creation of the external world. (136-32)

2. Characteristics Of Adolescence

Adolescence is a time in our lives when our minds expand and live on joyful emotions, while our eyes are opened wide in all directions. Our mind is inflated in every direction. Our body is also inflated. Also, adolescence is when our minds expand to relate with the whole universe.

All of this symbolizes the spring season. Spring is the season of expansion, and exertion of all the energy you have. You can display all the energy of your original elements of given nature during adolescence. (166-209)

What would Adam and Eve have been like after their growth period? Ages five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten pass as they grow to adolescence. As they grow, they team things. Then, where are they going to? They come to know their relatives, the world and so on. Then they say, "Oh, so this is what love is," and so they grow.

When they reach adolescence, they know that the world and universe belong in their realm, meaning, "I am the representative of all the elements of this realm," or "I am the great representative of all of this realm." So they feel that they are the first and the best. Is that right? (130-156)

Everyone here who is an adolescent, do you or do you not feel that you will become kings of this world? Of course you do. You're at the age when you think everything is centered on yourself. Because adolescents are at the age of refutation, they who find themselves not accepted can direct themselves in the wrong direction. This is why the problems of the youth have become worldwide problems. You don't like it when things are happening around you that do not involve you. But if you are involved even if in a small way, you feel happy, even though it may be a trivial matter.

Sometimes we can see women even nearing twenty laughing, "Hee, hee, hee," for no particular reason. (Laughter) In fall, they even laugh when they see the last persimmon leaf falling off a branch, "Ha, ha, ha." Because everything is relating to themselves, their best emotion is being motivated. So, adolescence is the time you can relate with everything in contact with yourself. This is the time of transition in life.

Why is it like that? It is because there is a certain foundation, which is God's original nature of creation, working for man and woman to come together in love perfectly, becoming one body 100%. But this idea has been going in the wrong direction, squeezed, trampled on and destroyed, like cracks in a beautiful bowl. (33-333)

3. Mind And Body During Adolescence

Everybody here, adolescents, all your thoughts concentrate as you start to open to the opposite sex. All the actions of the cells in our body are all focused on it. (108-233)

Even though people live in the fallen world, during adolescence our spirit selves and the cells in our body are parallel and are harmonized in love. You old men are like grandfathers. You don't know that, do you? You've gotten old not knowing this fact, haven't you? So it is the time when men and woman become bigger. "Yah! The universe is like this!" "Uh, everything is poetic, literary, and everything in the universe is dancing according to the mood of my love." Therefore they welcome everything, opening the doors of their spirit selves and physical selves, and whatever door they have, saying, "Welcome! Please bring your love." If people had such an adolescence centered on God's love, we would have had no tragedies and no Fall. Instead we would have been ,one centered on God's love. (130-121)

When men and women reach adolescence, the development of the organs of their physical bodies are complete. When all the organs reach 100% perfection, that means they have to come to a standstill, the saturation status. Is that right? All growth moves to the saturation point, then it stops, or turns. Isn't that so? The stage just before the saturation point is adolescence. Do you understand? It is easy to understand if it is explained this way. What is adolescence? It is the time when all of our organs and their cells are perfected in their growth. When talking about a musical instrument, it comes to the stage when air can no longer be blown into it before rupturing. If you blow into it more, it will burst . . . Bang! If you think of it this way, what is meant by the bursting? It is love. How good would it be if our love was like this?

By the same token, when people reach 18 years of age, it is the stage of being inflated with puffs of breath. . . into what? It is like balloons blown up. So it reaches the stage of inflation just before it bursts. It enters the stage of living together with the universe in harmony.

If you ask your children in elementary school, "Do you want to have a tour of Korea or a tour of the whole world?" they will answer, "Of course, the world tour." I would also answer in this way. Would you give the same answer? [Yes] Then you'd be similar to me? (Laughter) (110-84)

Ideally if people grow and mature centered on mind and love, they will be automatically in harmony. The body feels what the mind feels, and the mind feels what the body feels. Have you heard of the phenomenon of resonance? Have you heard of the theories of tuning forks? Once one tuning fork vibrates, another would also. When the plus and minus come into position in the same frequency, they will vibrate in accordance. When is this accomplished? At the time of adolescence. Such a time of maturation. What will you be like when mature? (18-309)

When you reach adolescence, your mind vibrates, as well as your face. At this stage, mind and body become one. Do you understand what this means? God has love . . . The invisible world and the visible world become one in love. (105-194)

Look at the youths at adolescence. Girls flutter their eyelashes, wear colorful clothes, and go around tightening their bottoms. If their bottoms look big, it is a disaster. Trying to avoid being ashamed of that, they go around making their bottoms seem smaller.

You, everyone here, the time when people can use all their wisdom and all of their physical attributes at 100% is during adolescence. All the cells work at 100%. Only at that time will they be at 100% in action.

Why do the girls wear beautiful and colorful clothes? They are like traffic lights. (144-202)

4. The Commandment During Adolescence

1) Have a Safe Adolescence

During adolescence, a man wants to meet a woman, and a woman wants to meet a man. Is this right? [Yes] Your mind starts to feel restless. Does it or not? [It does] Does your mind really work that way? When there is a woman, do you turn your eyes towards her not knowing why? (Laughter) You pretend not to see, but your eyes follow her. Does this kind of thing happen? Is it true or not? [True] Please be frank, do you ladies like that? If there is a man looking at you, you may pretend not to notice him, saying, "Gee! Silly!" But in reality you may like him. Isn't this right? That's how it is.

When those boys aged 17-18 who loiter around the rail stations see a female student or beautiful woman pass by, they will think, "When can I see her again?" Women think like this, "If I could have a man like that, I wouldn't mind marrying him." This is how they think. That's all they think! (Laughter) When I feel this way after going somewhere, I feel very bad. (Laughter) Emotions well up very quickly. At a glance, I think and I already know how good the person is. Is that so? Is that so or not? [It is] You are the same! (Laughter) That is why adolescence is dangerous.

The world nowadays is very confused. In such a trend of promiscuity, can Unification Church members do the same? [No] No! This kind of adolescence is not sa choon gi, time of thinking of spring, but is sa choon gi, time of the death of spring. (Laughter) Do you understand? [Yes] Once again, (points to sa choon gi with the character sa meaning death) do you feel good or not? Which one do you choose, this one (sa choon gi with character sa meaning thinking) or that one (sa choon gi with sa meaning death)? It's very serious.

Do without your eyes, or else they will lead you to spiritual death. In the same sense, you've got to twist the ridge of your nose, block your nostrils, and twist your tongue. As you do this, you can kill your bad self. Can you do this! Did Jesus go through adolescence or not? [Yes] Jesus also went through adolescence. What kind of adolescence did he have? This one (pointing to thinking character) or that one (death character)? What kind of adolescence did he have? Did he have the kind where he can whistle at girls? [No] So, he went through adolescence of sa choon gi with the sa character meaning thinking of spring.

First of all, you should go through adolescence safely. If you want to live, this adolescence of sa choon gi (with the thinking character) is for you; if you want to die, the adolescence of sa choon gi (with the death character) is for you. If you turn 180 degrees from the one with death character adolescence, you come to the thinking character adolescence. Therefore Jesus came to have sa. choon gi of the thinking character, which is for the bridegrooms and brides in the hopeful spring and living spring by overcoming the adolescence of death. Do you understand? That is the way to be. That is what history is about.

What is the human Fall? It means that we did not have spring centered on God. Is that right? When spring comes, do pious sons enjoy the season by themselves? They may say to their parents, "Mom and dad, since it is Spring, let us have a joyful time together by having an outing!" This is the way of pious sons. Suppose there are those who say, "Mum and dad, even though it is Spring, it is a good time to have a nap." Then while their parents sleep, they go outside to sing and dance. Then, are they pious or unpious? [Unpious] They are not only unpious, but they also deserve to be beaten to death. Is this right?

What is the Fall? Adolescence, sa choon gi with the death character, began because they were not connected to God. History started with the adolescence of death. Therefore, spring is coming for those who risk their lives. The new season comes. The history of Christianity has developed in this way. (57-159)

Nowadays, we say that teenagers are important, but what does that mean? Well, many pluses and minuses are everywhere. . . They want to walk about everywhere, but they are possessed and spaced out. When they do, they bring about self destruction as well as the destruction of their society. Since adolescence is the transitional time, it is very easy to go against someone who guides them, saying, "Eh! I don't think so. . ." Everyone is on the verge of transition. Because it is the time of change, they want to run around.

Therefore, to go the right path, you must arrange yourself with order, even when it is hard to do so. What is evil? Evil is something which destroys good. There is no protection for evil. Do you understand what this means? [Yes] (118-197)

Whether you are a man or a woman, adolescence is a dangerous time. Because of this, if you choose the wrong place to sit, you may ruin your life. If you make a good choice, you can live a good life for the rest of your life. These kinds of things happen. (124-120, 50-270)

You are young only once. Only one time do you have youth. Rev. Moon has been through this precious time safely and constructively. How do you become a plus? You cannot waste your time playing and dancing around in your youth, but you should seek to realize the truth, even though you may be persecuted or mocked. Teacher's course was like that in the past, and it will be the same in the future. This path is the same all the time. (129-180)

2) Keep the Right Order

Well, why is it bad to be self-centered? If there is no self-centeredness, it is good, but somehow it is difficult to assure yourself. Yet the bad point is, if you are self-centered, you still assure yourself, even though you may be going against the right order. Do you understand? [Yes] It is wrong to go against the right order. What is the bad point of love? Love is not always evil since everybody has to go through love, yet if you do not do it at the right time and not in the right order, it is evil.

Well, look how different are God and Satan. They are close to each other like next door neighbors. (Laughter) Do you feet that "side-by-side" describes the situation realistically? [Yes] What is the difference They have difference in order and sequence.

Nowadays Satan expands this kind of action throughout the world. Youths go against their parents, and this destroys families, because they are destroying the right order and sequence. Because of this, families are being broken. Because of this, societies are being broken. Because of this, nations are being destroyed. Because of this, humanity is being destroyed. That is why you cannot deny that this is evil.

During adolescence, you may want to try really hard to copy the activity in a thrilling movie. People ask, "What's wrong with that?" It is wrong because irresponsible actions lead to the destruction of the environment. So, it is necessary to use forcible strength against such actions. When you mature and have wisdom and knowledge, and can control your social and environmental experiences, then you are free to do so. But not during adolescence.

Well, why do we say, "Do not give a knife to a child"? It is because the child would wave it around. He understands how to cut with a knife, but he cuts without control. He may even cut his mother's fingers. These things can happen. Because children would destroy order in this manner, we do not give them knives. Do you understand what this means? [Yes]

If we decided to meet together at eight o'clock sharp but you came at ten past eight, then you cannot argue that you were right, saying, "I came here only ten minutes late, how come it's wrong?" What if you came one second after eight o'clock? Is that good or bad? [Bad] How bad is it being one second late? Is this forgivable, while the other one who came at ten past eight . . . ? (Laughter) It is not forgivable. It is unacceptable in this part of the world, because it was agreed that the meeting was to be at eight o'clock sharp.

If it was scheduled for 8:01 o'clock, but some came at six, some came at seven, and some at 7:59:59. What is the difference? The answer is the same. The person who came at 7:59:59, kept the time very well and was punctual.

Well, if there are two people who say, "I am the best at keeping the right time," then both are good and we cannot complain about them or say they are bad. For this reason, we can understand why we need to have the law of order and sequence.

Because of that, we need order. The universe has been moving in accordance with order and law. We can see, for instance, if the Moon says, "I have been going around the Earth for so long, I feel bored. I would like to revolve around the sun just once!," then the value of the Moon disappears and it may be destroyed.

If the Earth says to the Sun, "Ah, it is very boring for me to revolve around the Sun, it is now your turn to revolve around me!," what do you think? (Laughter) What happens then? This universe will be destroyed. As other planets become involved in the chaos, it leads to the destruction of the universe. Do you understand what this means? [Yes] (117-184)

Everyone in the world, particularly the adolescents might think this way, "The most freedom you can have is to do whatever you wish to do," and, "Who made all the laws and systems in this world? They made them as they wished and needed. I did not make them, so I disregard them." When they do so, they do not feel any fear towards the world. During adolescence, you want to live life however you want to, and have a well-spring of hope. But it does not work out that way. (156-84)

3) The First Love to God

A. The Meaning Of "Do Not Eat"

The Bible, says, "Do not eat." Why is it said in that way? Does it mean, "Do not eat forever," or for a certain time period? [A certain time period] As we think this way, the words "Do not eat" are acceptable as a warning for love. It was spoken because there is a growing period called adolescence, and it does not mean forever. Then why did God say, "Do not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil"? What was the problem? It was regarded as a problem because it had the possibility of becoming destructive between God and man. Otherwise it would have not been worthy of any attention.

The Fall, as it is taught in the Divine Principle, is a great gospel for all humanity who have been without knowledge. Again, it is a great gospel. The words of warning concerning the fall are extremely important.

If the fruit had been a literal fruit. . . it cannot have been a literal fruit. Then, what kind of fruit was it? Because of this fruit, the humanity of thousands of generations suffered. Why did God make such a fruit, that humanity now cries in agony and has a course of struggle and destruction? This question cannot be answered without the teachings of Rev. Moon, which explain that the fruit is related to love. It is a very deep theory. (128-87)

Do you like flower buds that are ready to bloom or do you like the flowers that have already bloomed? [We like buds.] Teacher likes the flowers that have bloomed. . . [We like buds.] You say that because you are like buds. Do you like flowers that are going to bloom or flowers that have already bloomed wide open? [Flowers that are going to bloom.] You are the ones who are going to bloom, aren't you? [Yes]

As you grow, you grow and blossom wide open as much as you wish. Do you understand? Do not rely on someone else to bloom, but do so by your own wish and open very wide. This means you should grow by the natural way, going through adolescence naturally, and open the flower, then you have to receive your husband, whom you want to love. Do you understand? [Yes] Do not be squeezed unless the flowers have bloomed. Do not be flowers that leaves have fallen off and the pollen shaken out. This is what I do not want you to be. Do you understand? [Yes] It is the same for the men. Men should also blossom widely open.

As buds you have not yet bloomed. Do not become bad like those that write love letters and have illicit love relationships. [Right] You should naturally blossom brightly and radiantly. When God sees you, He should be able to say, "Oh! As I smell the fragrance, I can tell that you have blossomed purely and naturally; surely you are a virgin." Do you understand? For this reason, God has so much hope.

Such a God, does he want a pure one or a wrinkled one? What about you then! A pure one or a wrinkled one? [Pure one] Even fallen men want to have pure self. God would want to have a higher degree of pure self. Because of that, you should blossom brightly and radiantly with a pure heart, and not be trapped in the fallen world with sorrow, but go beyond. In this way, you can be of value. This is my wish. (47-88)

B. First Love Is Precious

First love should occupy everything. Who is the subject of love? God is. Because the subject of love is God, He is the only being who can love. Ideally, the first love should be with God alone. But due to the Fall, it means that it was not possible.

Who did Eve have a love relationship with? [the archangel] She should have loved with joy, but she loved weeping wildly. Do you think Eve, while eating the fruit at the time of the Fall, said, "Oh, I like it. This fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is very delicious, so very delicious."? What mind do you think Eve had as she was being raped? She was being drawn in by the archangel while feeling disliked and accused by her conscience. She did not make love with happiness in all her cells like a flower in spring. Instead, she was depressed in her heart and every one of her cells.

Everyone here, have you heard that first love is precious? I don't know myself, but what about you? [It is precious.] You are better than me. Well, it sounds like the ones who have answered, have experienced first love, have you? (someone laughs) When I say this kind of thing, you should stay quiet. If one of you girls answered that, I would have given her a hard time, but because you are a boy who resembles the bogey man, I will be patient with you. Anyway, you might have heard that first love is precious.

C. First Love To God

Think about it, when you are nearing twenty, where do you take your clean and unstained pure love, all wrapped up? To the altar of God, the place where Heaven and God will be most happy to receive it. Then you become a holy husband and wife together with a man of pure love and a woman with pure love. This is where the holy place should be. . .

You should become the people that Teacher remembers in his mind. Understand? Next, you should become people that God remembers. With this kind of thought, you are to be the youth who take responsibility for the struggles in Korea, after you complete junior and senior high school studies in the near future. (64-84)

D. Become Pure Blood

Your bodies are precious. Be pious, do not stain your body. You have to escape from Satan's realm of death with the responsibility to serve Heaven and with the bodies which God accepts. This is the highest goal and standard man should have. According to the Principle of Creation, you cannot help but be that way. (15-202)

Have you become pure blood in front of God? [Not yet] Not yet, then what do you have to do? You should be obedient. Therefore, if you are disobedient you have to be taught the way of obedience, even if it means being hit. It means that you are taught the love of God. This is Christianity. This is why Christianity is the center of all religions.

What is the center of a seed? It is God's love. Then, if you chop your skull in half, what is the center? It is God's love. What is the center of a seed which can then become a sprout? It is God's love. It starts from God's Love. But everyone here has been able to say, "Even though my looks are poor, whether five or six feet tall, I have God's love in me. God's love is overflowing inside of my mind, which is bright red." (33-332)

Teacher thinks that this earth plane is precious. It is especially important for young people to keep their bodies pure. When you are obedient with a clean mind and body, you can become truly filial to your pure parents. (15-201)

E. Take First Love, Even To The Spirit World

You have to go to God with a mind of first love. (129-149)

You should know that people who go to the spirit world with first love, can go to the highest position. Do you understand what these words mean? [Yes] (129-135)

People on Earth who can go to the Kingdom of Heaven are those who lived their lives centered on first love. Giving up everything for the sake of first love and risking their lives for the sake of first love. Therefore, you must have a safe first love. (128-85)

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Section 3. The Way Of Songhwa

1. The Meaning of "Songhwa"

Do you know the meaning of the word "songhwa"? Why did I give the name, "Songhwa" to the young folks? If there is anyone here among you who likes uniting with elderly folks, raise your hand. Sorry to say it, but would it really be much of a help if all the old folks got united? Or what would happen if all the housewives became united? They all just start dancing the Taryong (a traditional Korean dance). Right? This is not really going to help. So, the thing God needs is the youth, the young folks, who have fire, who have the purity and energy and the fire which can assimilate with God's own feelings. That's why I gave the name "Songhwa" to you young folks.

"Song" (accomplishment) means the completion of the Ideal of Creation. In other words, it means the completion of the entire universe. Originally, the time for establishing the standard of completion is the age of 17 or 18, when the human ancestors fell. That's why God desires that everything be accomplished centering upon the "Songhwa," the twenty-year-olds. Those who can occupy the place of completion in the future are those in their youth.

You know about the stages of foundation, growth and completion. One doesn't fulfill the stage of foundation to just sit there quietly. What is the difference between the "hwa" in hwahak (Korean for chemistry) and the "hwa" in Songhwa? The "hwa" in hwahak means changing one's essential character and even shape, and the "hwa" in Songhwa means bringing about corresponding conditions from the position of an absolute subject with a clear view of subject nature. In this position, one is never restricted by formality no matter where one goes.

So if you ask what "Songhwa" means, the answer is "accomplishing and uniting." Achieving one goal and then forming a harmonious unity. And because you unite, there is only one, not two. just like leaven or yeast. It's the same as how in one home, although there may be a nice elderly grandma and a grandpa, or the mother and father, it is only when the kids break out into laughter that the whole house really chuckles. In this sense, you really need to know that the responsibility of being "Songhwa," of being young, is actually a big responsibility. (47-80, 21-83, 25-107)

2. Have The Awareness That "I Am A Child Of Heaven"

Now we have to truly become the sons and daughters of our father. We have to become part of our father's lineage in every sense of the word. We have to establish a relationship of unity wherein our father's shimjung (heart) is firmly bound with our shimjung, and where the aorta of our father's heart is firmly connected to the aorta of our own hearts. The path our father walks has to be our path, the situation our father is in has to be our situation, the purpose our father holds has to be our purpose. (27-270)

Fallen Adam and Eve didn't know it, but we have to bring to light all the facts concerning Satan, be equipped with the shimjung standard that won't be violated by Satan again, and stand in the position in which we can control even the historical satans. We have to become the direct lineal children of God, such that we have no trouble in commanding Heaven and Earth through God's Shimjung itself. We can only get to where we want to go, we can only get to the place we most earnestly desire, after we arrive at the day when God blesses us by saying, "My son, my daughter, this is your time, this is your day. You can do anything you want to do." (10-212)

What we need to know today is that if I live with the awareness that "I am of God's nation," "I am of Heaven's people," "I am a child of Heaven," I will, of a necessity, have to fight. (3-41)

You have to declare confidently before Heaven and Earth, before the entire universe, that I am, without a doubt, the Son of God centered on love. Is there anything that can contradict this? (137-304)

You have to testify to the extent that your recognition of being the child of True Parents is greater than that of being your own father and mother's offspring. I mean, you have to vocalize it constantly, even if you don't like to. You have to testify, saying "True Parents, True Parents" one thousand, ten thousand times. Testify constantly. Call "True Parents, True Parents" until you forget your own father and mother. That's what you should do. Otherwise, you won't be able to restructure your own awareness. What about the time when the Israelites entered and occupied Jericho? They blew their trumpets, beat their drums and raised up their voices, and after they all shouted "We are the People of God. You will surrender!" the walls just fell down, didn't they? [Yes.] It's the same thing. You've got to say "The world is mine. We are the sons of True Parents. The authority of deciding ownership by love is just around the comer, and if you try to deny this, you are going to have to pay damages!," and testify. In other words, don't play the wimp. (137-304)

If you are born a puppy dog, you have to live as a puppy dog. You cannot but live as a puppy dog. If you are born as a piglet, you have to live as a piglet, and we Moonies have been born as Moonies, so we'd better behave as Moonies should. (130-266)

Everyone here has to become a baby tiger, not a little kitten. Got it? OK, then are you going to become little tigers? [Yes.] Then, how about giving us a tiger's growl? [Grrrrrowl] Even if it's small, you've got to growl like a tiger. Don't go "meow" and make some little kitty-cat sound. You have to become baby tigers, not baby kitties, and sweep away the little kitty-cats crouching all over the Korean peninsula. (37-88)

3. When The "Songhwa" Awakens In The Last Days

If one asks what we mean by "the Last Days," we can say it is a time similar to the autumn phase of the year. The leaves begin to fall when autumn comes. Where do leaves fall from when they begin to fall? The leaves on the trunk are the first to go, not the ones on the branches. That means it is the things that belong to the past, to the old era that begin to go first. Their influence dissipates and passes away.

So, as far as our native Korea is concerned, we have come into the time when we 30-year-olds can steer society. And after a little while, the time when the folks in their 20s and in their teens can direct society will come too. That's why the university system is an issue now. A long time ago, one had to be in one's 70s or 80s if one wanted to influence or move the nation, but that age changed into the 60s, 50s, 40s, and has come down to the 30s. When the age of influence falls past the 20s and into the teens, guiding the high school students will be an important task. The problem will not be university students. It will be the high school students. It is not the old folks who decide the fate of the world. That's why the old folks are being called the old generation and are being kept pretty much out of the loop. And the older professors at the universities are being treated as model cases of the "old generation." A professor has to be in his 30s if he wants to get the students all interested. Strange, isn't it? So, what is all this? It's just the falling of the leaves. As far as the formation of humankind's culture is concerned, the old folks are falling by the wayside. In the old days, the whole neighborhood would jump if an old grandpa said anything, but these days even the neighborhood dogs don't pay attention to what an old granddad says, That's how it has become.

So now, my grandpa's time has gone, my Mom and my Dad's time has gone, my elder brother and sister's time has gone, and now it's my time. What time is it? It is the era of youth. The young generation. What's the biggest headache in Korea? Is it the government, the faction fighting in parliament? No, it's the universities. After a while it will be the high schools. We've come to the last movement, the last round in the game. The end days are very close.

What's the motive behind the fall? The manifestation of individualism is the beginning point of the Fall. Individualism manifesting itself is the starting point of the Fall. "Who cares about the world, about whatever?" That's what it is. Next, the development of a base of unrestricted freedom is the prime cause of the Fall. "Who cares if God said not to eat that fruit? Who gives a heck about rules and regulations! Who needs that stuff? What do I care about restrictions? Let's do whatever we want!" Is that Freedom? Behaving like this and doing whatever one pleases? We can't just do that.

The freer and more liberated the world gets, the more the world needs to stick to the rules and preserve order. The more precise a machine is, the more it moves according to a regular axis within a framework of order based upon the principled relationship of vertical and horizontal. By following this rule, the natural result is freedom of movement. This is even more evident when we examine today's scientific culture and social system. This society's structure calls for an unrestricted form. Is it possible that humans require freedom but that society itself doesn't? Because the social institution corresponds to the human condition, if the social institution is formed in the framework of regulation as an organization and a system, then humans have to respond to that systematic institution and be prepared for its conditions. In fact, they have to be able to guarantee and protect it's well-being in the position of subject. If one considers things from this viewpoint, there can be no such thing as unlicensed freedom.

If you are going somewhere, you definitely have to set up a path or road. There needs to be a direction. The philosophy behind modern-day liberalism is just without direction, isn't it? Can there be any direction when one just does whatever one pleases? Or can the mind exist without direction? No.

This kind of thinking is the kind of thinking that leads to destruction. We need to completely wipe out that kind of decadent philosophy. Therefore, the more difficult and refined something is, the more complex is the path taken to it. Do you like complex things, or do you prefer simplistic things? It's a very complex path.

Take a look at the human eye, for example. It looks very simple, but it is really a very complex part of the human body. Even the individual cells of the eye are very complex. They are all very complex, but in as much as they all live together as part of the one living organism, they respect each other and cooperate with each other, and don't inflict damage upon one another. So, it just not possible for them to say "well, I'm the eye, and I'm great," or "I don't like you other guys and we hands are the best part, etc."

As regards to the relationship of front and back, left and right, above and below, there is no other way to go other than adjusting to and obeying the defined rules and conditions according to position and class. There is no other way to connect the whole together. (49-190)

4. The Attitude Appropriate For Songhwa Activities

When I was young, I set and determined the goals in my life, and the measure of my aspirations. All of a sudden, I find that I have passed through my youth and middle age, and am approaching my senior years. If there is one regret I have, it is that I was unable to achieve completion and call upon my Father while I was in my youth. That is, I'm sad that I couldn't say "Father" during the same phase of life as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. That's why you folks are in such a fortunate position.

As the one who is inheriting the undiluted tradition of God, I have to always go the direct path. I have to consider those students and teachers who do not know the Will as pitiful and unfortunate people. And I have to always think about how much God worked and labored in order to find and establish me.

I have to subjugate that which is unrighteous. And it takes thousands of times more effort to subjugate force with something other than force. I have to set up an integrity of loyalty and piety that can conquer and deal with any environment or circumstances. And I have to start with a pure mind and make unfaltering progress until I achieve my goal.

The Principle is like a traffic policeman, and the goal of the Principle is my life. If one walks toward the goal with all one's faith and sincerity, then signposts appear. Each of you, in the very environment in which you are situated, needs to make a historical departure, a historical beginning. And you have to plant and nurture the seeds of genuine sincerity. (21-83)

What is the thing that your mind wants most of all? This is the important question. If there is something in the world most worth having, then our youngsters are the ones who have to grab it. If one person isn't enough, and even if it takes ten, or a hundred, or a thousand, or ten thousand, you have to stick tightly together and then grab it all together.

How many junior and senior high school students are there in Korea? Would it be a few million? That's a pretty big bunch. If there is something really good which would take a million or so (youths) all connected together like a bunch of ants to get, could you mobilize a million students? If you can do that, should we make such a movement to go and grab that thing, or not? [We should.] Well, the thing is, I'm the only person who knows what that particular thing is. I've got to mobilize you youngsters, but what are you going to do? If you youngsters don't mobilize, then you will have no connection whatsoever with that most valuable thing in the whole world. But, if you volunteer yourselves, step forward and say, "I can mobilize one million students in the next few years," then you will make that most desirable thing in the world your own.

In other words, if the Korean students push past all the youths and the junior and senior high school students in all the various countries in the world, and then win the high ground, then our country would be the champion country of the high school students of the world. Right?

[Yes.] Wouldn't it be better to feel like that? If you don't know such a feeling or passion, then that's a different matter, but if you knew that kind of feeling, would you do it? [ We would do it!] So are you going to go do it or what? (shouting loudly) [We'll do it!] I have to say it in an exciting way like this because you folks are young, right? (laughter)

Anyone here today who is seeing me for the first time is probably thinking, "I thought our teacher was a real dignified and honorable gentleman, but this . . . this . . . he's like this!" But if I behave all dignified, it isn't very exciting. You won't catch fire. If I really want to whip up the spirit, I've got shout like this in a big voice; "So are you going to go do it or what?!" I've got to know about this sort of thing, too, if I want to lead you youngsters. So do you want to give it a try, or not? [Give it a try!] (33-277)

If there are any students here, then even those students, study as they must, have to shed many tears. What I mean is, can you just sleep peacefully, considering the direction in which students, that is, in which university students, junior, and senior high school students, are going? You've got to think, "By my own two hands, by this flesh and blood that is my very body, I'll save the young people in my university," or, "I'll save the young people in my high school," or "I'll save the young people in that world." You've got to pledge yourself often and stand up to the line, and have the shimjung (heart) which, because you don't have enough power in your own limbs, can cry out with tears before heaven lots and lots of times. That's what you've got to do. (94-323)

When I tell you youngsters "work and suffer," you probably think "Aigo! (Good Lord!) Son-saeng-nim! (Teacher!) I've just been through high school, from year one in junior High to year three in Senior High . . . time to stop, isn't it? You say more? Not me. I'm done for." But, wait. Think about it.

For a patriot, or a child of filial piety, if he's not dead yet, then without doing all he can, even unto death, he's not really a true patriot.

There's really no such thing as a patriot before he's dead. Why? No matter how much hardship he has gone through, if today he utters just one word of regret, he can't be a true patriot. No matter how much of a patriot he has been, if he turns his back on his country right now, then he becomes a traitor. Isn't that so? You can only become a person who has fulfilled the letter of patriotism and filial piety after you have been loyal and filial up to the time when you pass over the frontier of death. Absolutely true, right? [Yes.] That's why as far as the public path is concerned, the course for loyalty and filial piety is the same. We call someone who gives his or her life for their country a patriot, and a son who gives his life for his parents, a filial child. (64-75)

5. Become A Songhwa-Ggun

God, at the present time, is looking to the young people and pinning his hopes on them. In this way, God is trying to accomplish the world he desires by setting us up in the middle of this complicated world. For us, that is, we young folks in this world today, there is no way to avoid this path. (15-81)

I too, don't like becoming one of the "old" bunch. But I'm not really one of the old set. I don't like old folks. I like young folks. Even today I still like young people. Of course, that doesn't mean you should get too happy about that.

These days we call the junior, senior high school students of the Unification Church "Songhwa students." Songhwa. Do you know the meaning of the word "Songhwa"? It means "accomplish and harmonize." Then what do we call it when someone raises an uproar, or when something is extremely urgent and pressing? We also call that "songhwa." If we write these two words in Hangul, the spelling is just the same. The pronunciation is the same, too. But the meaning, of course, is different.

You here have to become the troublemakers of the Republic of Korea. You have to become the nuisances of your villages and neighborhoods. And can you comfortably witness at school, either? Have you ever seen anyone who goes "Aigu! What trouble can it be to go and do some study? I'll just grab a whole lot of my friends, and bring them over and convert them on the spot!" Have you ever met such a guy? You have to ask, "Just give it a try . . . take a moment to listen. . ." as if you are asking a favor, right? So if it isn't going well, why don't you just grab someone by the throat and give it a shot that way? I mean in a good way, of course, not in a bad way. (25-102)

I like troublemakers. You youngsters here are troublemakers. If you go to a village, you are that village's troublemakers. At the same time as you are troublemakers of Satan's world, you are troublemakers of God's world. That's why you make a start at one point, and bring in the fruits at one point. The meanings found in Hangul are remarkable.

Someone who goes to church is a Yesu-ggun (meaning "a Jesus-er"). Someone who goes and attends the temple is a Jol-ggun (meaning "a temple-er"). So what kind of "ggun" are you folks here? You are songhwa-ggun (meaning "a troublemaker-er). Have you ever thought of yourselves as troublemakers?

From this point of view, when the parents in this society say to their children, "Study hard. Listen to what you are told. You have to become a good example to your friends," is that what being a troublemaker is? If the parents say to their children "You rascal! If you don't study you'll flunk out and be a rotten student, so study, by George, you'd better study!," this is also a kind of trouble and annoyance. And if, as soon as they come home, the son or daughter takes some special thing his or her parent has lovingly prepared for them out into the street, and passes it out to other kids thinking "these other kids could really use this," that too is a kind of trouble. And, what if the parents should prepare some special thing for ten years or so, investing their heart into it just for their child, and straight away the child also picks this up and hands it out to other kids. This is also "trouble," right?

There are two kinds of trouble. One of them is the trouble that leads to destruction, and one of them is the one that leads to good fortune. One of them gives away blessings, and one of them sends away blessings. One gathers, gains and builds things up. One destroys, demolishes and breaks things down. (25-103)

From now on, you Songhwa students have to have the conviction that you will become the standard bearer who can bring vindication against the enemy and bring liberation to God starting from my very own flesh and bone, my own body. God will entrust his work to the person who can have a conviction deeper and stronger than the conviction God Himself has maintained in his battle for six thousand years, even if that person cannot fulfill the whole will. (47-80)

If I am lonely, I have to bring the students around me over to my side. So you have to be able to bring that school to surrender and shout, "Mansei! I got the victory. I won." Whenever you look in the mirror, you have to say to yourself, "Hey, Mac! Are you still sticking to the path you began when you took up God's will?"

You can't let yourselves disgrace the name "Songhwa." When you can't do anything further under your own steam, and you can't bear the weight anymore, and you finally say "God, please help me," only then will you become a truly independent person.