Section 1. Problems in Life
1. What is Life?
1) Until Now Problems in Life Have Been Like a Maze
Throughout history, philosophy has struggled to solve the problems in life. Many philosophers have agonized over such problems as what are true human values, how does one perfect oneself, and how does one achieve a level of completeness that can be victorious and proud before the entire universe? However, their efforts have resulted in all varieties of opinions. Now all the opinions and "isms" by which men have formed systems of thought have been experimented with and all have proven to be failures. (141-125)
Why do men wish not to die, even if they are living a mediocre life? What is at the bottom of all this? I am sure that you have many questions. However, your questions can not be answered by men's philosophies in books. Philosophy has, in effect, been building a road to God. What is religion then? A life of religion begins when you live together with other people in acceptance of God. (186-12)
People commonly ponder the meaning of life, asking, "What is life?" Likewise, it is important to us to establish our views on life, our country, the world, the universe, and God. What are they like? It is important for us to establish order in our views and to connect the different dimensions. This is the most important problem. (75-324)
Unification Church members are different from other people. Being centered on the will of God, we are certain about life after death, our future. Indeed, we are experiencing it.
Up to now, many men on earth and numerous saints and sages throughout history have devoted their lives to the questions of where we come from and where we are going, all in vain. (33-7)
2) We Are Bereft of Motivation and Purpose
It is a common saying that men come and go. This applies even to the greatest men and has been so since time immemorial. The movement of history and the morals of heaven continue to apply to us even at this moment, and you must be aware of it. We shall come and go ourselves.
We know very well the reality that we come to this world, struggle, and eventually go somehow. If that is so, what are we here for and where do we go from here? This is the very issue that numerous philosophers or religious men have tried to resolve and failed to. Human history is tainted with the grief of such continuing failure.
We live in a time of tension. You cannot deny that we are walking the inevitable path of life. We are born into the world of our parents, a world we never knew. As we get older and weaker, we are destined to die. It is sad but true that we cannot keep our youth forever and avoid aging. Even great men cannot escape from this. Thinking of this, you must have felt the urge to throw your arms in the air in frustration and displeasure at least a couple of times in your life.
Why was I brought into this world? Why do I have to live on? Where am I headed? You should never allow yourself to think that you were born by your own will. We are ignorant of the motivation and purpose of our being. In other words, we were born, live, and die in spite of our wishes. Then what is there to be proud of? We have no control over our birth, our possessions or our death; thus any attempt to show off is tragic. Once born, we are destined to live and then die.
What is the purpose of such a process? You need to think about this once again. The motivation does not come from oneself, therefore, the purpose must not be only for oneself. Who would not wish to be happy and live in glory? Anyone would, but "I" am not in control. It is "I" who wants to be proud and free. It is also "I" who determines the crossroad of God's heart.
We are always asking for something bigger, a better life and higher worth, even though we have nothing to do with our being in this world. Since this is so, is it for myself or for some purpose relative to myself?
You must know the answer. I dare you to raise your hand and say that it is for myself. When you were born of your parents' flesh and blood, did you really want it yourself? Although my parents gave birth to me, I am a living body apart from my parents and my fate is not in my parents' hands. Then who has power over me? When you figure out who the man of power is, that will be the day you can be joyful. Unfortunately, these days people are struggling to overcome this standard. Let's not forget that we are such people.
Hence, we pursue something bigger in our mind. We also want to realize a connection to a bigger and more amazing world of life, pushing the power of death throughout life. Furthermore, God's heart of love is making us closer to the eternal world of Heart by going beyond the human world of heart. You may not be able to explain and verify this; however, you are often being led by such feelings. The clearer your conscience, the more you feel that something is urging you to desert this world of contradiction. (7-178)
Our life is passing regardless. Moving without an objective is such a terrible thing. In the desert, traveling straight means you can go a long way. Unless you move your feet exactly straight, you are bound to wind up making a circle in the long run.
Try rowing a boat on a sea or lake. To go from one point to another, you need to have a triangular frame of mind instead of a straight line. Rowing puts you on a meandering path. Drawing from the rowing experience, "I" am alive and going somewhere; however, I am not sure of the direction." That is why we have to operate on three points between the starting point and the point of destination. This way you are guaranteed a path close to a straight line. This argument is valid. (89-164)
3) Regaining the Self that Was Lost
The mind is in agreement with the law of nature in that it wants to move toward goodness infinitely. It is like a magnet pointing North and South. The law of nature never misses goodness by losing the direction. There is no such phenomenon. The human mind tends to move toward a certain objective. The mind that moves toward life, moves through God's heart, identifies the truth, and yearns to harmonize with the whole is the grounds on which God can give instructions for escape. I want you to know this for certain. You must regain yourself. Once you have set the standard of mind, you ought to analyze yourselves in order to look into what shape you are in and your situation. Somehow, you may feel displeasure and a weight of fear at the continuous urging of your mind. Therefore, you realize you are in the wrong place. In this way, you ought to know what shape and situation you are in.
If you somehow managed to see the spirit world, you could see numerous saints from thousands of years ago screaming before us. These days numerous spirit men are running past you, trying to educate you by saying, "Let's go together. The enemy is coming." Unfortunately, you are in such sorry shape that your ears are deaf to such a sound, your eyes are blind, and your body cannot sense their presence. Nothing is more deplorable than this. The misery of this is no longer personal. It is an unforgivable sin in the view of God, who is trying to connect the value of being to the entire world of ideology. (7-182)
4) If There is a God, Then There Must Be an Instruction Guide
No man is good. We are born only to find out that we are not of the breed of goodness but of evil. We are born only to find out that we can neither stand before the ideology of re-creation nor talk about values. You cannot deny that you are unworthy, unprepared, incomplete and lacking. In Christianity, such a man is defined as a fallen man.
The original mind of man does not wish for a life of enjoyment in the fallen world. We have been avoiding this path for 6,000 years; however we have not yet established the standard such that we avoid this route one hundred percent. Today, the so-called course of life means heading for a certain objective while pursuing the good and avoiding evil. Our course of life should be the course of avoiding the evil environment with the objective of eliminating evil and upholding goodness every day and even after death. That is why you tremble with fear inside.
In contrast to the feeling you get when you move toward the original home of the mind, you feel fear that something is seizing you when you stand on the side of evil. Remember that is because of our avoidance of the original mind when faced with the history of sin, the power of death, and the power of darkness. We are in the course of escape. How will God lead mankind to escape from evil? If there is a God, an instruction guide must exist. (7-180)
2. Men Are Not the Cause of Things
Everyone on earth wants blessing. Everyone wants their path blessed by some absolute power and wants to follow it. This desire is shared by individuals, organizations, nations, and the world. Men are not the cause of nature. Things do not derive from men. (188-250)
Who are we? Who is God? He is the Creator. Who is the creator? According to the world of religion, God is our Father, and we are the children of God. However, it is not clear what kind of Father He is. Is He a rented father? Is He the father of our neighbor? Our stepfather? What kind of father is He? If He is not our real parent, is He our parent-in-law? Is the word "Father" right? As long as this fundamental question is not resolved, waiting for a better environment is not a solution. It won't be resolved for tens of millions of years.
It is a problem between man and God. Man and God! When you ask if it is true that God is our Father, do you feel that God is your Father? The bodies of my father and mother certainly existed before I did. On the premise that I exist because of my mother and father before me, my mother and father existed first, I exist next. This is the correct formula. It is foolish to assert that I exist without taking my mother and father into account. Why? We human beings are not the first cause of things. We are the second result. Because of this, we have to mention the existence of a mother and father before our own existence. Having this point of view, we must ultimately resolve the problem of God -- the origin of the universe. Tracing back beyond your parents and ancestors, you will come to God, won't you? If you follow this logic, you have to define God before asserting yourself. The Unification Church teaches simply that God exists; He is our Father, and it teaches what our Father is like. (188-190)
Since men are the result, aim at the starting point of the origin. Of course, it shouldn't be done blindly. Because God has character, a man of character has an original intellect, emotion, and will-the substantive operation of the conscience. Therefore, the motivation should both exceed the substance of the cause and be absolute. Once getting off to a false start, its direction cannot be corrected. (172-32)
3. Only One Straight Distance
Consider the future of a boat without a compass. As you know, a boat moves by the turn of an engine operating the screw. What about the sailor? Does he need only to hold the handle? What will happen? The same is true for our life. Is it all right that we manage to live a directionless life, getting up in the morning, eating meals, going back and forth between home and work like the turning of a screw? What will happen when you arrive at port -- the final destination? Will you be able to disembark at the final destination? There is no more critical moment than this.
Once I had a chat with an old man on the road. I asked him, "Where are you going?" and he replied "Where else? To my son's house." I said "Is that right?" and asked, "What do you there?" He said, "I am offered meals and sometimes chicken, which I really enjoy." I asked again, "What do you do after eating?" He said, "Nothing much after that." Is this the way you want spend your life? Even when you make an entry in your family account book, you balance the revenue and expenditure accurately. You record the balance precisely. Then how about your life? Have you ever balanced your entire life? Is it in the red or in the black? If it is in the red, you ought to mourn bitterly. On their deathbeds, men ought to be able to die singing joyfully. Any attempt to live when death confronts you is a proof that your life has been in the red. We must live a life in the black balance in the world of the heart, centering on absoluteness.
However, this is not the case, and thus we need religion to mend the situation. That religion should possess a driving force that is explosive -- having sudden impact, not gradual. Can you understand this? Wouldn't it be nice to have such a religion? Up to now, the history of Christianity is about 2,000 years long and that of Buddhism is over 2,000 years long, but no man has lived for 2,000 years. Gradually, we have come up with religions of historic meaning. That is why we wish to build the nation of the original home and the bridge to enter it.
When you go to In Jae, in Kangwon province, many roads which seem to take less than five minutes turn out to be more than fifty miles. As you walk, saying, "Why am I walking a distance not even negotiable by car?" your legs begin to kill you. A similar day will come as you go on your path in life. When the day comes, will you want to go back or keep going straight? Here we need a helicopter or a rocket. Something must be different. We will need to execute an emergency plan. We need a religion which can do this on the earth. (19-289)
What did you come here for, so early this morning? Why are you sitting here? What for? Are you sitting here because you are hungry? Are you sitting here in the cold because you feel hot? Are you sitting here because you are cold? What are you sitting here for? You don't know the true direction; whether to ascend or descend, to go this way or that. There are many churches and many religions. There are many true look-a-likes. Only one is real, whereas many are fake.
When you look at a human being closely, the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and arms are synchronized. All are synchronized. Show me the way that will consolidate me into one unit, unifying my eyes, ears, and my every sensory organ into one all tied together with my nervous system. Show me the way in which we can live feeling ecstasy and joy. Show me the shining way which will not only satisfy me in my personal life course, but which will also satisfy my family, tribe, country, world, God's territory, and all the way up to God.
The way that we are searching for will take mankind to the world of happiness, the world where the entire human race becomes one. The way must bring the light that can lead us to one destination, going beyond rank. Show me the way that aims for and directs us toward such light. We need it, don't we? Then what on earth is this light? What kind of light is it? (95-181)
There is only one short path to the top of the world. Not two, but one. Without going through it, you cannot arrive at the one world. If you launch a satellite of prosperity toward fallen mankind in order to destroy the evil base, the satellite should not travel at will. The satellite will destroy the target even after tens of millions of years, because it will travel an orbit in the same manner always, once it is programmed in the computer. Two different ways do not exist.
4. Why Do You Live?
1) What Do You Live For?
The question is for whom and for what I should live. When you think of this question, you have to reflect, asking yourself, "What am I living for?" What have you lived for up to now? Have you lived for the earth or for heaven?" In history up to now, no one can say for certain that he has lived a life of completely fulfilling the will of the Creator.
Why is this? It is because of the Fall of Man. Because of the Fall of Man, men were forced to leave the original ideal garden in which they could live in virtue, an environment in which they could live for the whole. Fallen men living on this earth are faced with the situation that in their mind, they want to live in virtue and for the whole, but their bodies do not function accordingly. We live faced with this situation.
Although men in nature were meant to live in an ideal world, they -- who should be noble -- are in an unspeakably terrible place, barely managing to go on, all because of the fall.
However, you feel that you want to live a better life. No one can deny that you want to live a better life, feeling bigger, wider, higher and longer lasting value. Although our mind wants such a life, we don't have the substance to back up and to drive such a life; we have no such ideology. You may say that you live. However, can you say in confidence, "Heaven and earth and God, please cooperate?" You are not capable of that yet.
I myself am ignorant of the contents of life at the origin of Creation and incapable of talking confidently before some spirit men in heaven, the creation on earth, and God, the Creator. However, some spirit men in heaven, on the earth, and God are working for you even at this hour. In spite of such work, men have walked the course of history wandering about, struggling and longing for that world, not knowing whether heaven and earth and God exist or not.
The time has come for the students here to think once as of today "What do I live for?" If God were to ask you, "What do you intend to live for?" how would you answer? Taking it one step further, if God were to ask you what you are really living for, you could in no way say that it is for yourself. For whom does a nation exist? You ought to know that a nation does not exist only for its own sake. Why? Nations, peoples, and the world are within the dominion of the great purpose of the universe. Therefore, it must be the case that no being is meant to exist for its own sake alone. (8-42)
2) For Whom Do You Live?
If you say, "I live for myself, who else?" then you fail. Can there be a family for a man who is living for himself? There cannot be a family of hope. Can there be a nation? A nation cannot be built upon that foundation. Can there be a world? There cannot be a world.
The pledge of heaven and earth is a deterrent, saying, "Go away, you villains of individualism! Can a family enter where individualism has priority? Can an ideal nation enter there? Is it possible to enter into a place as narrow as the tip of a gimlet?" No matter how hard you may try to enter, you won't be able to. (57-66)
3) You Live Because of Love
How do you live your life? It is simple to explain where men come from, why they are born, and how they have to live. Men are headed for the destination of love by finding the path of love, since they are born because of and as the result of love. This way we can revolve forever according to the law of circulation in the universe. Because love is an eternal concept, you come to this center looking for love, which is possible to find by love alone. (125-65)
Therefore, you need to know that. Love is the purpose of movement and existence for everything. You must always carry an iron rule that you move and exist in search of love. The reason the plus and minus ends of a magnet join together is to become one in love. People meet other people with the intention of becoming one. What is the purpose of becoming one? It is not because of money, greed, children, etc. You must know that nothing makes sense without the love of God.
What do I live for in the course of my lifetime? Do I live for myself? You live because of the love of God. Because of this you move around and live. How wonderful it is! Those who live this way will never fall to ruin. The difficulties, tears or miseries you encounter in pursuit of the love of God will no longer be recognized as such. Do you know this principle? Once you know that this is the purpose of being you can utilize this knowledge to move everything in the world. That is the Principle of Creation. If we have this many people and they are of such a mind, could these people move America or not? Time is the only problem. In this way, America is bound to move. She is bound to move. (67-159)
What do we live for? Let's live for absolute true love! Everything is included in this. Therefore, the handkerchief in my pocket is for love, and working and sweating are all for true love. I am talking, eating and playing all for true love. (107-205)
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Section 2. The Birth of Man
1. A Prayer for Us
Father, please be kind to the hearts of Your children gathered here today at this hour. Father, with whom were we born? With whom do we live? With whom do we die? We were not born together with You we have been unable to live together with You, and we are unable to die together with You. Now that You have taught us the way to live together with You, we must thank You ten million times for Your gracious gift. We find that before You even the total offering of our bodies as a living sacrifice is not enough. Therefore, we feel once again that we are too dirty to present ourselves before You.
Being so ashamed to offer our bodies to You, we block and cover ourselves. We worry about ways to hide. We have been too arrogant before You. We have been too proud. Nevertheless, we have the temerity to ask You directly to accept us, saying that we are Your sons and daughters. (27-209)
2. Man Is Not Born by His Own Will
Men were not born by their own will. Our birth, our sex and our looks were not custom designed by our parents. We were not born by the request of our parents.
When you dig into the source of our existence, centering on the providence of God, no other view is possible but that we were sent to this earth as the living body who would take the responsibility of forming relationships with the providence of history, centering on the source.
When you come to think that we are involved in a relationship with the providential will of God and the historical expertise of God, we will not remain in the current state of reality. We should feel certain of this history and that we must be the real body to carry out this providence of God. Therefore, no matter how tiny our individual bodies might be, we are not destined to remain as individual bodies. (34-155)
Men were not born consciously wishing to be born. Before their consciousness, the power of God brought about their birth. Development does not result from man's consciousness. The worthwhile and valuable formation of a person begins when he forgets about himself and when he pledges the results of the intention prior to consciousness. In other words, a person's chance to improve is based on the foundation of knowing God's motivation, which existed before one's consciousness. (36-103)
Where is the origin of man, his birth and self-assertion? Is it democracy? Democracy flows away. Where do you find the origin of asserting man before the principles of the grand universe? Those people who assert themselves, resultant beings, without the knowledge of their cause, are out of their minds. (83-491)
Once you are born, you have to live and then die. From the beginning, you are born without proclamation, and you live without it. If a man was born with something of a value, he should live a life of value and then die. You ought to live such a life.
Since I have come from a solemn place, I have to live in a solemn place and then die in a solemn place. It is not because someone made me do so. We should start from a natural relationship and go the path of a natural relationship. However, we were born unnaturally, we live in an unnatural place, and we will go to an unnatural place. Would it be fine to live this way and then die? No! (12-10)
3. Men Were Born From the Love of God
The reason for the birth and creation of men and all things is simple. Because even God needs an object of love, He created man. Do you understand? You may think, "I am nobody, and it doesn't matter whether someone like me exists or not." Don't ever do that. Notice that parents do not love their children because they are outstanding. Parents love their children whether they are outstanding or not. As the parents of handicapped children feel more pain in their hearts, the love of God, who is the center of heaven and earth, goes beyond you being outstanding or not. What is important is whether you have the background for the love of the original nature or not. Therefore, you have to know why you and the universe were created. You have to know that the reason is to complete the ideal of love. (130-44)
Do you know what the words "son of God" are centered on? What do you mean by "son"? What is a son? We find a son under the love of God. By "son" we mean someone who begins under love and resembles all the attributes and the entire nature of God. If you wonder how we were born, it is by the love of God. We are the sons of God, taking roots in love from birth. Isn't it so? In view of reason, what do you mean by someone's son? What in the world is a son? A son is someone under the love of his father. I was born under the love of my mother and father. (144-232)
Why did God create all things and me? Why me? It is because of love. Why was I born? It is because of the love of God. We were born to live under the love of God. To be able to say that I am a man who can practice love in my family, society, country, and the world, you must live under the love of God. (97-266)
4. Human Beings Are Born in the Wrong Way Because of the Fall of Man
Originally, God creates us, but because of Satan, we are born in the wrong way. No matter how great a man may be in the world, he is born into the blood lineage of God's enemy, Satan, although God originally created him. Ordinary religions do not know this. This is why God has been working for six thousand years. Would God have been working for such a long time simply because of the eating of one fruit? God originally created human beings, and yet through the illicit love of Satan, they have gone the wrong way. They must be reborn to the position in which they are not born through Satan's love and thus cannot be invaded by Satan. This is why the core of Christian doctrine is resurrection. Christianity is a religion of resurrection. Resurrection is rebirth. Since man has been erroneously born, he has to be born again.
So far, there have been no perfect people because all people have been born mistakenly through Adam's fall. No matter how admired someone may be, he was born in the wrong way. Some may be closer to goodness and some farther away, but this is a small difference in God's eyes. Everyone is born by mistake. Therefore, they must be restored by going the reverse way. This is why Jesus came as the original Adam, four thousand years after Adam. In other words, he was standing in God's dominion, beyond Satan's accusation. God had worked from the time of Adam in order to prepare such a position. (19-190)
5. The Reason We Are Born
How was I born from my parents? I was born through a connection of life. I was born through the joining of my parents, with the value of their life. Through what does life come? Life comes through love. For what do life and love come? They come in order to complete the purpose of the universe. I am born in order to achieve a certain purpose. Either as a man or woman, I was born through the joining of life in order to perfect myself as a contributor to the universal purpose. (110-72)
Why are human beings born? If it is for the sake of being a president, it is quite a miserable purpose. If someone says that I was born in order to be the leader of the Unification Church and speak out, I don't like that. Why am I making so much noise and commotion like this, when people are resisting me, saying that I am wreaking havoc? It is for no other reason than to find the true love of God. (121-101)
Why are we born? (For love) What kind of love? (God's love) Hmmm. God's love. It is love such that when we go, and bang here, then it connects to God and goes bang on God's head. Just as if you throw something in a pond, concentric circles form, if you throw love in the universe, it will create ripples throughout the whole universe. The question is whether you throw mere sand or throw a big rock. (103-254)
6. The Purpose for Which We Are Born
Ladies and gentlemen, the problem of history has been the fundamental question of why human beings are born. Why are they born?
People have many ideas. Some think that they are born for the nation; some think that they are born for their parents. Believers think they are born for the sake of God. (83-154)
The question is why you were born. Let's consider why you were born.
For your own sake? (No) Are you the motivation for your own birth? (No) Is the purpose something that serves me? Can we achieve any purpose without an object partner? Our purpose is for the object partner and for the mutual relationship, not just for me. But you are trying to establish yourself. It is possible to establish your self when you are in line with the motivation, the purpose and the subject partner. If you try to promote yourself otherwise, you become an enemy. (66-264)
As for God's love, the love that can connect with the world connects with family; love that can connect with the country connects with family; love that can connect with society connects with family; and love that can connect with family connects with me. Everything is in the reverse. Heaven connects with my purpose, and country connects with my purpose. So does everything. Do you understand? (Yes.) So what kind of people do you have to become? Through God's love, I will be the victor in the family, country, world, heaven, and with respect to God's Shimjung. This is the purpose for which mankind was born. You should speak like this. There is nothing higher. This is the only thing. I live centering on God's Shimjung and love. (95-60)
What is the purpose of our birth? It lies in serving the world. For this reason, we must take this path even though death threatens us. We have the responsibility to serve God as representatives of the world and to offer the world to God as priests. While you have such an incredible mission, others have debased themselves by following and sticking their necks out for money. (32-265)
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Section 3. Life and Time
1. Life Is Short
Human life is limited. Though you may live a long time, you cannot live much longer than one hundred years. (172-28)
Let us say you lived for about eighty years. If you take out the sleeping time, then it is reduced by half to forty. Is sleeping living? Sleeping is like being dead. Isn't it so? Sleeping is dying. For this reason, out of the twenty-four hours, you live and struggle only for half of it. Then what if we take out one hour for eating time? Furthermore, if we take out the time for parties, celebrations, funerals and so on, then will you really live for even half your life? I calculated last time, and I found that we only spend seven years in real living. Out of these seven years, how many days can be counted as a day of true living? Is there even one such day? (49-336)
However we suffer, it does not last longer than eighty or a hundred years -- thirty-six thousand days. The thirty-six thousand days go by very quickly. Can't you endure for such a short time? God has been enduring for hundreds of millions of years. However miserable the human world may be, God is not swayed. Although He has millions of stories within His heart, He does not show any agitation. (124-59)
Life runs quickly. By the time you mature and understand how the world is, you are already forty or fifty, and the next ten years go by in an instant. Then quickly you will become sixty and seventy. The expression that life is one great dream of spring beauty feels so real. (139-153)
Life is not something that is around all the time. It exists for us only once. It will disappear in a moment, as fast as one clap of the hands. (139-153)
Our life is very short, isn't it? But this one generation goes up and down the measure of eternity. It can be extended infinitely. On the other hand, when it is bent, a new heaven and earth starts from there.
It goes up and down like a weighing balance. It is like that. (46-155)
You don't know when your life will go away. When will you do it? Even if you do it right now, this is not enough, because time is still running away, and you don't know when your time will be finished. (104-290)
2. The Most Important Time in Life
In our life, the time before marriage is the formation stage; the time after marriage is the growth stage, and the time when you have a family is the completion stage. These are the fundamentals. (125-160)
In one day, morning is like spring, day is like summer, evening is like autumn, and night is like winter. Likewise, human beings have stages of childhood, youth, middle age, and old age. The springtime of life is puberty. Summer is the thirties, and autumn is the forties. Then begins the winter period of life, and when the winter solstice comes, life ends. This applies to all principles of the four seasons and the day. (33-40)
Considering an individual life, there are periods of youth, middle age, and old age. When is the most precious time for you as a human being? For some, their destiny is decided in youth; for some, the whole problem of life is resolved in middle age; and for others, old age is such a time.
There is the prime time for everyone, whether it is youth, middle age, or old age. When we understand the prime period and estimate its time, we can see that it comes at one point of time. For instance, a mountain has its highest peak, where the whole mountain range culminates. When we see the watershed in the mountain, it works like a line that divides the inside and outside. There is such a point in our life. When is this time? We human beings do not know it. (36-217)
When is the hopeful time in our life? It is childhood, then adolescence, the twenties and thirties. Comparing people to flowers, youth is the most glorious time, when flowers blossom and fragrances spread. When we become forty, fifty and sixty, the flowers start withering away.
They go down on the way to death. What hope is there when death approaches? (137-2I7)
The most important times of life are the time of birth, marriage, and death. Then how should we be born? We should be born well. In our church terms, babies should be born through a Shimjung connection. Next is the time of marriage. We are married in order to live together and complete the Four Position Foundation. This public law of the universe must be established on earth for God's will and humankind's will to be realized. The family is the unit that conforms to the direction of the cosmic law. (24-230)
3. Human Life and Time
Among all things that exist on earth, there is nothing that exists without a purpose. All beings have a purpose, and they move towards it through time. It may take one day, one year, a few years, or a whole lifetime. For instance, a country moves toward the purpose of goodness through thousands of years of history. All beings are running toward their purpose of life.
Considering human beings, there are the times of childhood, youth, middle age, and old age. These ages all differ from one another, and there are different missions and responsibilities for each period. When you fail to complete the mission of childhood, you cannot enter youth with confidence. If you fail to complete the mission of youth, you cannot enter middle age with confidence. If you do not complete the mission of middle age, then you cannot confidently enter old age. Thus, we can see that in human life the carrying out of your responsibility in one stage determines whether you can realize your purpose in the next age. (24-211)
We often hear that even a hero cannot realize his ambition if the time is not ripe. We know well from history that when a capable person appears on a prepared foundation of time, this person and time can combine and create a new history. That is why time is a concern.
When you get up in the morning, you eat breakfast and start work. When it comes to lunchtime, you must eat lunch. Then you start the afternoon work. When it comes to dinner, we eat dinner and enter into night. This way, on the basis of regularity, we live through a changing environment.
In an individual life, there are the periods of childhood, youth, middle age, and old age. Life proceeds and ends through these steps. One life is not always the same. When you enter these ages in the wrong way, you may even wish that you had not been born. But if you enter these periods in the right way and live meaningfully, then your life can be remembered as a most precious life. For this reason, success and failure start with how wisely we use the time. We can see this clearly in our daily life. (57-287)
4. The Meaning of our Ancestors and Fortune
When you see a Unification Church member go witnessing, as soon as he goes out, people follow him around eagerly, although he has nothing to give. He only has an elementary school education, and his character is also quite shallow. However, when he sheds tears, the whole town does the same, and when he gets up early in the morning, the whole town does too. This is because he had good sacrificial ancestors who did not see the light during their lifetime and through him they found a chance to see the light. No harm comes to this person, wherever he goes. On the contrary, there is an opposite type. He may be handsome in appearance, but he suffers wherever he goes. It is because his ancestors lived affluently, and now indemnity requires that the opposite road be taken. It takes time to come out of it and start his way up. For this reason, there is suffering and evil in this period. If he fails to overcome this and takes off, he can never go beyond this level. Any Unification member, who complains that witnessing is difficult, however long he has followed the Church, cannot transcend fate and become a victor. You should know this. Therefore, we can see that history and human destiny are fair.
Some people live happily, screaming with joy. This is too small. If you see from here, you will say, "Ah, I am happy." The angle is this, this, and that. If you pass this, then you are happier by this much.
There are people of the opposite type, however. They go in the opposite way. How unhappy must they be? What comes later is higher. This is to indemnify the historical relationship.
This sine curve applies to the individual, the family, the clan, the nation, and the world. When one is on the decline, the other is on the rise. This sine curve is the judgment. Mankind prepared the foundation for six thousand years in the satanic world, in order to enter the world of the heavenly kingdom.
Who is the wise person? The wise person is the one who follows the beat, no matter how difficult it is. Religion has been doing this. Let us take the fortune that comes every thousand years. We are going to start from here and receive in this period the fortune of the thousand years. (59-143)
5. Destiny and Lot
When you consider the term oon myung (destiny), oon means life, and myung means to move. The term means "moving life." Myung also means going toward one standard. Destiny means that the path cannot be avoided. In Korea, there is a common expression. It goes, "Born with a wrong fortune." For a frog, it is better to live in the water than on the land. It is born this way, and should live and die this way. It has no other way of living. A cicada has a larval stage. Although a cicada lives in a puddle or a hole in the ground, this is not the way it is supposed to live in the future; it is supposed to fly in the sky. Whether it is digging under the ground or swimming in the water, it has to make a certain preparation for flying. The wings must be prepared. This is an absolutely necessary condition. To become a full insect, the preparation should be made from the larval stage. It should go through a period of taking off the shell and organizing itself. When it is in the water, its shape has to be wide so that it can comfortably float above the water, but this is not good enough for flying. Everything has to be restructured in order for the cicada to adapt to the flying stage. This is its destiny. A fish has a destiny that it can never leave the water alive. (120-236)
What is the origin of human happiness and unhappiness and good and bad fortune? Can human beings change and create their fortunes and build their own foundation of happiness? Of course, efforts may lead to some relative foundation, but can individual fortune be directly connected to the fortunes of the country, the group, the world, and heaven? From this point of view, there must be destiny. (78-263)
You can make a new start when you make one turn. The universe turns around. Considering that history repeats itself and unfolds in the pattern of historical identity, the destined time is coming. When this time comes and you receive it well, you can put 365 days in line, and your individual fortune will follow the heavenly fortune towards a happy life. Then where should this life of good fortune proceed? Fortunes of the country and of the individual differ. Why were Vietnam, Laos, and Khmer taken over by communists? This is a bad fortune. Your individual fortune has to follow the beats. (78-275)
If somebody enjoys 120 of his assets when he only has 100, then his descendants will suffer the consequences. Human destiny tightens like an elastic band. When someone only lives 80, however, he can bequeath the remaining 20 as a blessing to his descendants. (78-333)
Lot can change, but destiny cannot. Can you change the fact that you were born as a Korean? Can you change your parents? No matter how strong a country's government may be, it can never change someone's parents. The way of restoration is a way of destiny; eventually, it has to be resolved. (72-55)
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Section 4. The Path of Human Life
1. Life is Such That You Cannot Even Foresee the Immediate Future
Daily living means the life of every day, and human life means life for the whole life span. Mostly, one life is limited to one hundred years.
Few people live for over one hundred years. How old was our grandmother Seung Do? (Ninety- four.) She died at ninety-four, do you know this? (Yes.) She must have wished to live for over hundred years, but she was not in control of it. Aren't you living each day without knowing what will happen next? Do you know how to proceed? Generally, we cannot even foresee what will happen in the next hour. No one knows the future. Life can be compared to a walk you take on a dark night on an unknown road. In life, we take steps into the unknown, which is darkness.
It is difficult to accept this picture because every morning we receive sunlight. If you imagine it vividly to yourself, however, how stifling it is! It is as if we were walking inside a closed iron box. We live as if we are pushing the big box. When we go over one hill, two more hills stand waiting; and when we go over these hills, then we find three more hills waiting. After the three hills, then four more hills come, and without ending, more and more hills come up. (175-195)
When you make a wrong start, you end up in the wrong place. When a ship sets out into the great ocean, it should chart out the course and follow the compass carefully from the very beginning. What is the port of departure for human life? We do not know. Where can we find the direction and guiding compass for our destiny? Human beings have not been able to find this, so they have been wandering about to and fro. No matter how they try, they cannot overcome their human boundaries. (172-28)
2. Where Should We Go?
We are moving toward a certain point, whether or not we know what it is. Moving or resting, we are going forward. Not just me, but my nation, world, and heaven and earth are moving toward a certain point. This is an undeniable fact. An important question for human beings is where I am going after coming through my whole life.
Religion, philosophy, and history are all mobilized to answer this question. Thus, you cannot deny that you are being captured and pulled by this destiny.
If I have to go, then where does this body want to go? Where do this mind, this life, this shimjung want to go? Where do my hopes and ideals seek to go? We must go, although we may not be able to solve this question. At the time of death, the body is simply buried in the ground. But are the mind, life, shimjung, ideal, and hope simply buried away together too? Will they simply disappear? Without having a clear answer to this question and establishing a clear purpose, happiness cannot be found.
We realize that saints and religious leaders have been fighting to solve the question of where we are going, stopping their footsteps and putting a stop on the moving mind and declining shimjung. Despite these efforts, however, there has been no one who confidently proclaimed, "My body is going this way, and my mind, shimjung, life, and ideal are running this way." So all the people and all that exists in heaven and earth must go this way. (8-194)
Then for what are we born and why do we go on? This cannot be answered without God. Without God, we cannot find the motive. The one who is without a motive cannot reap the fruit of his work; nor can his value be recognized. A building is built according to the designer's blue print. A building that is built without reference to the original blue print cannot be what it was intended to be by the original designer. (21-100)
Then where should we go? Although we have to put at stake our own lives, we must find a day when we receive God and rejoice in our hearts; a day when our hearts say there is no greater hope. For this we should endure pain, resentment, and mistreatment and go through this world. If we cannot go through this world, we will perish with the world. (8-202)
Where, then, are people going? They are going to heaven. How about angels? They also are going to heaven. How about your mother and father! They are also going to heaven. How about your dog? It is not going to hell. At the time of the Korean War, one rich family was trying to escape to the South. They had a dog they had boasted of as being very expensive, but they didn't take it with them; they tied it to the door and said good-bye. Our Unification members should not do such things. Now, dogs and all things can follow their masters to the Kingdom of Heaven. (78-336)
Where do people go? They go toward the spiritual world. The spiritual world is like the sea. We are destined to go there. Just as there are different currents in the sea, infinite changes unfold there. In the sea, there are many harmonious spectacles not to be found in fresh water. Just as there are many fish families in the sea, there are many new heavenly families in the other world. (141-306)
3. Life Is a Preparation for the Spiritual World
We know that this world is not all there is, but that there is a spiritual world too. We also know that the two worlds are connected as one. Then where is the place we are to settle down ultimately? We are now living in the flesh, but we are moving toward the eternal world. We go through our teenage years, our twenties, thirties, middle age, and old age. We go through hills of different ages and eventually go down like the sun. But those who know that the spiritual world exists understand that our life in this world is short, and the next world we enter after death is eternal. Hence, physical life is a time to prepare for the eternal world. Isn't that how it seems?
For instance, in school there is a standard of achievement for students. How much a student has achieved according to this standard determines how much he is recognized in school. The greater the gap between his points and the full score, the farther away he drifts from the standard. Everything is determined by a certain standard.
Our physical life is like a time of preparing for good grade points at school. We seek good grades for our entire life and want to bring good results in our necessary responsibilities throughout our whole life. We evaluate our daily life according to a certain standard. Ordinary people do not think about that. They simply think that since they are born, they live with their parents at home and are just like any other people. The center of such a life is physical necessity: food, clothing, and shelter. Isn't that how they live? But we Unification members know clearly that the spiritual world exists. We do not just believe it; we know it. How do we know it? Through many experiences. In our living environments there are undeniable historical and realistic facts. As we established our global foundation, we had many experiences.
Therefore, Unification members cannot deny the existence of the spiritual world. (140-121)