Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon

Book Six - Our Life And The Spiritual Realm
Chapter One - The Path of Life
Section 2. The Correct Understanding of Death

2.1. Death is the inevitable conclusion of earthly life

There are many people who have lived to this day thinking that death is the end of life, saying, "If I live seventy or eighty years, I am content. And if I die, so be it: During the course of history, there were people who thought deeply about how to live forever. They wondered if there was any way to live beyond death. The more one clung to this ideal, the more one thought and asked, "What is the meaning of life? Why are we born and why do we walk our path like wanderers?" People would say, "Life is a bitter ocean," or "Life is fleeting like dew on the grass." Yet, if they could live forever there would be no occasion for such worries to arise. (14-229, 1971.1.30)

Numerous sages, wise men, and founders of religions have paused on their path of life, interrupted their mind's concerns and their heart's inclinations and asked, "Where am I going?" They have struggled to solve this question. These people came forth to solve this question, but no one to this day could confidently make the claim: "My body, mind and heart, my life and ideals have hastened toward this ideal destination; hence, everyone and all beings existing in heaven and on earth should follow me towards this place." (8-194, 1959.12.20)

Would you like to live here forever on earth, or would you rather live eternally in a place where you can be an embodiment of love without a physical body? When God wants to show you the infinite world of His creation, can you follow God with your body? You, therefore, need your spirit self. This is a fact, not a fantasy. If God were at the center of spirituality and if He needed a being with whom to relate, He would want to bring human beings with Him, show them and give to them His eternal ideal realm of creation in its entirety. (111-112, 1981.2.1)

Suppose you had only one piece of clothing to wear. If someone tried to take it from you by force, you would desperately resist. Let's say you had clothes for each of the four seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter. Suppose that it were springtime, and someone was wearing winter clothes. You could go and tell him, "These are winter clothes. Why don't you take them off?" You would have to bring spring clothing. You would have to bring summer clothing to a person wearing spring clothing in summer, and tell him or her to change. That person may not have realized the need to change. The issue of dying is the same. People do not know that there is a future life. They do not know that there is something more valuable than this physical life. (200-91, 1990.2.24)

God has made infinite efforts to guide those who are living on earth with secular, humanistic hopes to live instead with a fresh hope that can overcome the valley of death in longing for the eternal world. Hence, those who lived a life of faith have taught that we should not live with hopes confined to this earth. Rather, we should embrace the hope that overcomes death and dream of a world of eternal hope. (6-41, 1959.3.22)

All of you will go to the spirit world at some time. Is it one realm or two? It is one world. Then, what will life in that world be like? Have you ever thought about that?

Fish cannot survive outside the world of water in which they live. Water is absolutely vital to their life. Fish living in a river should not live in the river waters alone. They should go back and forth to the sea as well. Why should they live that way? Some freshwater fish cannot procreate without tasting water that connects to sea water. You should be aware of this. Some sea fish have to come to the fresh water and taste it in order to reproduce. The two worlds must be experienced. Similarly, corresponding with the mind and body, you should experience both physical and spirit worlds. (210-128, 1990.12.17)

There are no friends on the path of death. It is a path that you take alone without your parents, without your beloved siblings, without your beloved spouse and beloved children. It is a path that you must take alone. This path cannot be revisited, nor can you return from it. Once you take this path you can never return. What kind of heart will you have when you go on this path? Unless you have hope that enables you to overcome death the moment you face it, it will be your end. (6-53, 1959.1.22)

If someone dies of old age, in Korean we say that person "went back." When someone asks about our deceased grandparents we say, "They went back." To where did they return? They returned to the spirit world. Since we originally come from the incorporeal God, the incorporeal world is our original homeland. From the incorporeal world we come to the corporeal world, prosper on this earth and then return to the incorporeal world. We return to the spirit world in this way. We originate from the incorporeal Father, and we are then born through our natural father who lends his body, and we live in the physical world. Later, we discard our physical body and return to the spirit world in our original form. (242-166, 1993.1.1)

Human beings, both men and women alike, have five sensory organs. Among the five sensory organs, four can be found in our head. Our eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and hands make up the five sensory organs. The most important ones can be found on our head. The four sensory organs on our head symbolize the spirit world centered on God. It is a world separate from the body. The head can freely move about. The reason it moves about is to see, hear, smell, and speak in all four directions. Hence, what would happen if our head couldn't move? The inconvenience would be great. (228-85, 1992.3.27)

The people on earth must return to the original world, a third stage, after their physical life. Thus, in order to become a person who can go and live in the world of love, we need to prepare ourselves with organs for breathing in that world of love. We go to that world when our physical body breaks down, just as a baby bursts the amniotic sac and destroys it in order to be born. That is why the mother feels labor pains. In the same way, death is like a second set of labor pains.

For what should we prepare during our life in this physical body? During our time in the womb our lungs were made in preparation for breathing air. In the same way, during our physical life we need to prepare ourselves to breathe with our love-breathing organ of the spirit world. So, after discarding your physical body you have to breathe with your love-breathing organ, overcome the limited environment of your past life and live as a person with unrestrained freedom. (274-104, 1995.10.20)

Human beings want to resemble God, and if they are His sons or daughters, it is inevitable that God would have the idea of allowing them to resemble Him. I want to resemble God, and God wants to take me with Him. Therefore, God will seek the way to make this possible. Therefore, we come to the conclusion that human beings must be born in a form through which they can resemble God. God waits for the day of that birth. Human beings wait for this day as well. Do we need a day when we are born with that body, or not? That day would be the day of our physical death.

Well then, should human beings welcome death or not? When we are asked what the purpose of death is, we should say, "We die for the sake of God's true love." The reason we discard our physical body is to actively participate in the work of God's infinite love, and for the sake of God's world of love. (116-172, 1982.1.1)

Death means to be born in God's love. But in the human world, people make a fuss, saying, "Oh, I am dying!" Seeing this, would God laugh merrily or would He exclaim, “Oh, no!"? When God looks at people crying like this in the human world, does He feel sorrow or joy? Leaving the realm of limited love, we enter the joyful realm of infinite love. Isn't death the moment to welcome this joyfulness? Isn't this going through the path of death the moment of actually a second birth?

If this is the case, would God be joyful about the day your physical body is gone? Would He be joyful when someone is born as a son or daughter who can act for the sake of love in the second, innately expanded world? Why do I talk about such things? You cannot establish a relationship with God without liberating yourself from the fear of death. I am speaking about this because you must understand this reality. (1l6-172, 1982.1.1)

On the day you are really born as God's son... Amongst the innumerable stars, do you think there is a realm of diamond stars or not? Think about it. You want to have diamonds, don't you? You can't say there isn't a star made just of gold. It is possible. How rich God, our Father, is! Have you ever thought about that? We can travel this infinite universe in a moment. Are you interested? Are you truly interested? If so, what we need to do is observe the normative laws in accordance with God's commands: "Don't do this!" or "Do that!" This is possible only when you observe what God says to do or not to do. It is only logical that this becomes impossible if you live according to your selfish desires.

Can you abide by what God says to do or not to do? Since human beings have duality, they consist of mind and body. Since the mind is the subject partner, and the body the object partner, mind and body must be united. Is that right or wrong? (116.174, 1982.1.4)

What was God's deep anguish? It originated in the fact that He could not educate His true sons and daughters to become people of perfected heart, that He could not educate them about the siblings' heart, and the heart of a husband or wile. He could not educate them in the standard of heart that dictates what a couple should be like on earth. God could not educate them in how to become a couple and then how to be a parent.

This education should have become the textbook for human life. Yet, humankind lost that textbook and came to lead a self-centered life. Therefore, when such a person goes to the spirit world, he goes to hell. Even when people go to hell they do not go to just one place. In hell, there are all sorts of groups wandering about. Adam and Eve were supposed to take charge of this education of heart, but because of their ignorance, they fell and could not perfect themselves.

Consequently, the all-knowing God had to take responsibility for this. Who initiated the providence for salvation? God did. God initiated the providence for restoration and He also had to initiate the providence for re-creation. (228-265, 1992.2.5)

2.2. Life and death are a process that connects three worlds

Our life consists of a ten-month period in the womb, a hundred-year period in the physical world, and eternity in the spirit world. Our face consists of three stages: the mouth, nose and eyes. These represent the three ages of human life. Our mouth symbolizes the age of the womb in the material world. Our nose represents the age of the earth in the earthly human world, and our eyes represent the age of heaven in the spirit world. (298-304, 1999.1.17)

When a person is born, he is born from the deepest place -- in water. The period in the womb is the age of water. A baby inside the mother's womb is floating in water. Looking at this, we may feel that the baby would find it difficult having to breathe in the mother's womb. But to the baby, the womb is the universe. Though he lives in water, that world is the baby's universe where he is free. Isn't it obvious that the baby would take in and pass water during his life in the water? To do so, babies in the womb live by virtue of the umbilical cord connected to their stomach. (299.69, 1999.2.?)

A person's life passes through three worlds: the formation-stage world, the growth-stage world, and the completion-stage world. We live in a world of water inside our mother's womb, and then in this earthly world, and finally in the aerial world in the spiritual realm. In other words, we go through three stages: the aqueous world in the womb, followed by a hundred years on this earth after our birth, and then the aerial world where we can fly.

While a baby is in the womb, does he try to escape to the outside world, or does he want to stay there? When he has to go out through such a small hole, does he say, "Oh, nor or, "Oh, that's great!"? Suppose the baby were told, "If you want to go out, this house you live in will be destroyed, and the source and value of nourishment where you are will all be destroyed. Your head and body will have to swell. Would the baby still want to go out?" Would he say yes, or would he say no? Just before the time of delivery, the mother desperately pushes and the baby says, "Oh, no!" until the moment of birth; but at last the mother pushes the baby out. When this happens, one world completely disappears and the baby begins to breathe in another world. (116-474, 1982.1.11)

The earth is like the mother's womb. You have to be sure about this. Through what do you eat and breathe during the time in the womb? Do you breathe with your mouth? Do you breathe with your nose? With what do you breathe? You both eat and breathe through your belly button, don't you? Since you do all of this through your belly button, you don't need a mouth to eat and a nose to breathe. Would you need a sensory organ to see, or not? Why would you have sense organs when you don't need them in the womb? They are developing so that you can use them after you come out of the womb. (295-321, 1998.9.24)

Do you use your five sensory organs during your time in the womb? You don't need to use them. You don't urinate, you don't defecate. All the organs are dormant. Isn't it mysterious how you spend ten months like that? Even urine and excrement cannot precede true love. Urine and excrement themselves cannot emerge before the person does. Only after Adam is born does he begin those functions, and not before. Everything is made that way. (297-12, 1998.11.15)

Human beings have to take in water during their time in the womb. The human body is three quarters water. This earthly world is the world of air. Therefore, you have no need for your eyes, ears, nose and other sensory organs when you are in the water of the mother's womb. You stay still with your eyes closed because you don't need to use your five sensory organs. Have you ever seen a baby breathe with his nose during the ten months he spends growing in the womb? The baby would die if he tried to breathe with his nose. It would be the end of him. (302-166, 1999.6.13)

Then why does a baby in the womb need a nose? It was made in preparation for the next world. When this gradually matures to become a respiratory organ the baby has to come out, destroying everything around him. He has to cut himself away from his mother and destroy the amniotic sac in order to come out. What this means is that the baby's environment -- the amniotic sack and placenta -- is completely destroyed.

It means death. It is like announcing the destruction and end of the world of water and the beginning of a new life. (11-327, 1982.3.27)

Should we use the umbilical cord again, or should we cut it? We should cut it off. You may say, "That cord is someone's lifeline. So can you sever the lifeline that connects one person to another? Why should we cut it?" When the baby sees it coming, he cries, thinking that he is about to die. But when God looks at this, does He laugh or cry? The situation is exactly the same in the world of air.

The spirit self is attached to the physical self like the embryo in the womb. When the physical body grows old and the spirit self tries to free itself by kicking the physical body away, the physical body may say, "Oh no, I won't die! I'm not dying!" When God looks at this, does He smile? Does He sympathize? Or does He say, "You foolish person!"?

When a baby is born into this physical world, he can become the object partner of love to his mother and father, and eventually become his parents loving friend. Babies are born into this world on earth where they can share love with their mother and father. Likewise, you should be reborn into the spirit world where you can share love with God, who is the eternal Parent connected to the infinite spirit world. (16-174, 1952.1.1)

Those who breathe love on the earth are not dead but are alive. When a baby breathes in the womb, he lives attached to a cord that connects him to the future world of air. The baby lives through this umbilical cord, but when he destroys the placenta and comes out into the new, higher-dimensional world, how much does this change?

His needs are supplied on a higher dimension. The baby comes out and receives a supply of air. After leaving the womb, how will the baby develop? Through love. He will receive elements of love. You should not just eat food. The bodily part of the self, which eats, is on the path towards death. This body that takes in water to live is already on its way to death. With what and for what purpose should you feed yourself during the period on earth? During this period, you should cultivate a character of love. (139-211, 1986.1.31)

When you come out from the womb to join the world of air, you destroy things from your life in the womb, such as the umbilical cord and the amniotic sack. The umbilical cord and the placenta are destroyed and die. What appears at the same moment as the death of these organs? A baby comes out into the universe, to the mother earth. From that moment, the baby lives by the supply of elements taken in through his mouth. (139-212, 1986.1.30)

Before transforming into a cicada, the larva would say, "I want to remain a larva. Oh, I don't want to take off my cocoon." But once it casts off its cocoon, it uses its wings and flies. Do you think the larva would want to discard its skin when it becomes a cicada? Wouldn't it say, "Oh, I hate it all, the land, air -- everything"? Or, do you think it would say, "All right, get this skin off me"? It would not be thinking about flying. Dragonflies swim in the water during their larval stage, then come out onto the land and crawl around for a time. Then they fly freely to and fro. Many insects develop through three stages of life. Most insects have wings, don't they? As we have seen, insects live in the water, on land and in the air. As lords of creation, should we human beings just live on the earth? (116-176, 1982.1.1)

You may not welcome death, but once all of you die and discard your flesh you can fly about freely. Would you object to this? This is the reality. You have to know that this is plain fact, not a lie. You should understand that human beings go through the same three stages of life and that death to us is the blessed gate to our second birth. (49-286, 1971.10.17)

Insects and birds know how to fly. Shouldn't a person also know how to fly? Even seeds fly when the wind blows. I am talking about dandelion seeds. They are designed to fly naturally. They are made to fly. In this way, birds, insects, and the seeds of plants fly. Shouldn't a human being, who is the lord of all creation, fly? Should we just sit still and wait for God? Wouldn't you want to protest and say, "Oh, God, everything else can fly; why didn't you give me the ability to fly?" Then God would say, "Whoa, wait a minute. After a few decades, you too will become like that, so just wait."

Then you can say, "Oh! I see. That's the way it is." What shall you do until then? You should train while on earth so that you can adjust to the other world when you go there. Only when you can appreciate your mother and father can you find delight in God. Only when you like your spouse can you come to like God when you go to the next world. The physical world is the training ground for the spirit world. Can you receive what you desire without dying? Is it possible without dying? Is it possible without taking physical body? Do you or do you not need to discard this physical body? (116-176, 1982.1.1)

You have lived in a world of water and in the world of land, haven't you? So then, would you want to have the experience of living in the aerial world or not? When you were about to be born from the womb, did you think such things as, "I will go out to the world of land and eat honey, rice cakes, rice, beef, and everything else with this mouth?" Do you suppose you gave it any thought? You were breathing through the umbilical cord and thinking that you would die if you came out of the womb. If we reflect on life in the womb, how confining it would seem to be! If we think about it now, it seems stifling. Despite that, when a baby is about to come out from the womb, he or she inevitably protests, "Oh, I don't want to go out: Even though he says that he doesn't want to, when the time comes, everything comes bursting out. He comes out naturally along with the gush of the amniotic fluid. In this way, the baby is born through a safe and natural process. (49-286, 1971.10.17)

During our time on earth, we have "mother universe" or "mother creation." This is the land. The planet earth is the mother. She supplies you with elements, doesn't she? The earth is the mother that supplies you with elements on a different level from that of your own mother. When you grow in the mother's womb, how do you breathe in the womb? You breathe through an umbilical cord, don't you? This is your link to your mother's body. You should remember this.

When you leave your mother's womb, you know that you are connected to the second realm, the world of air. When you come out of the womb after finishing life there, your old environment is destroyed. What do you connect to at the moment of your first cry? You come to be connected to the world of air, where you breathe air through your respiratory system. When you are connected to the world of air, your nostrils become the absolute supply line. (139-212, 1956.1.31)

Water symbolizes the age of the womb. Your nose symbolizes the age of air. After coming out of your mother's womb you live in the age of air. Afterwards, it becomes the age of the eyes, the age of the sun and the age of light. Love is also called light. It is said that love lights everything up, isn't it? It is the world of light.

Life goes through three periods. Even a dragonfly spends time in the water, on land and then, after discarding its shell, it flies about feeding on other bugs. It goes through three stages. It is the same with human beings, the lords of creation. After the age of the womb, when you emerge from your mother's womb, do you come out with your arms full of household goods or do you come out destroying and cutting everything away? It would cause serious trouble if you came out with even one item.

You used to eat and breathe through your umbilical cord. Wouldn't you expect to die if you cut it? Yet you need to cut it in order to come out of the mother's womb. You have to cut it ruthlessly. You have to destroy everything as you come out. (299-37, 1999.2.1)

What is the meaning of death? Living on earth in the environment of the air is like swimming around in the womb. We live within a wrapping cloth of air. Isn't that so? Then what is death? Death itself is nothing special; it is merely the rebirth into the third stage of life. That moment of transition is what we call death. If you look at it in this way, you feel better, don't you? (49-286, 1971.10.17)

What should our body be doing now? As you were "breathing" through the umbilical cord in the womb, you were also preparing the nostrils through which to breathe later. Then, when you burst out from the womb, you change the organ that you use and begin to breathe. Likewise, what you need after your birth is to experience love to the very core of your being. You need to breathe the air of love from your mother and father. You should go through everything in life while being supplied with the air of love.

Once you are born as a baby in a family, you go up along a growth curve and then you eventually age and fade away physically. After you are born as a baby, you grow, and then you eventually disintegrate. You are born as a baby and go back to being a baby again in the spirit world. When that happens, you should detach yourself from the world of the second womb and connect yourself to the realm where you can breathe elements of love in the third stage. You leave behind parents' love and siblings love on earth and enter the world of love that is in total harmony with the Original Being of the great cosmos, God.

The spirit world is made up of the air of love. It is filled with the air of love. Therefore, while you live in the earthly world, you should prepare a supply line in order to breathe love. Hence, you need experiences or the spirit world. You can be immortal only when you become a person who can feel spiritual love and breathe the air of love. (139-212, 1986.1.31)

We will all have to throw off our physical bodies someday and move on to the spirit world. So we, as human beings living on earth, should be prepared for death. We should work hard to form our good self, our second self that will be the one living in the eternal world.

We can only be born as a healthy and good baby it we receive good prenatal influence while inside our mother's womb. Our life on earth is similar to our life in the womb. Therefore, we should grow resembling God's image, His heart, and His divine nature. After we grow, we should put our life on the line and overcome all obstacles with our love. (14-17, 1964.4.19)

2.3. Death is a transition to a better world

When people look at things based on their own perspective, they seem to have hope, but still they lack the hope necessary to move them through the valley of death. People are passing away without having that kind of hope. Is our model of life one in which we have to die with lack of hope? Or will we search for a single hope through which we can scorn death and conquer it, and still live while enjoying that hope? This is a very important issue about which people who live on earth today have to think. (6-45, 1959.3.22)

Where are we ultimately destined to go? We will go to the spirit world. What does that mean? Usually it is taken to mean the world after death, but this is not accurate. Why should it not be regarded as the world after death? It is because the spirit world is directly related with love. Since that world is related with love, it is not actually the world after death. The spirit world begins based on true love. Thus, when we stand within the realm of true love, that very place is the spirit world. The spiritual and physical worlds -- these two worlds become one in love. That's why love is so magnificent. (144-199, 1986.4.24)

Your first parents are the parents who gave you birth. Your second parent is our planet Earth. Its soil supplies you with all the elements essential for your physical growth. The earth is the second parent of your physical body. After living with your second parent, your physical death provides the entrance to the eternal realm of the third parent. However, you cannot go to the third parent as you are. In order to return to the third parent you have to resemble God, who is the Original Parent. (138-98, 1986.1.19)

Have you ever once thought, "I will go this way even when I reach the age of seventy"? Have you ever thought, "I will continue this way of life even when I turn eighty and am about to pass on"? Even when you die, you have to be able to present proof that you can do these things in the future, saying, "I have shed light on history in this way and have done these things in my life." You should not just say this with words. It should not be just words. After such a person dies, people should cling to him for this reason, saying with tears, "You lived the right way!" (73-114, 1974.8.16)

We should dedicate our course of life to the search for the infinite God of love. Even if we have to go through the valley of death ten or a hundred times, we should search for His love. The greatest path that we can take in our lives is to constantly seek that love, even in death. (19-210, 1971.3.10)

There is a goal that people must fulfill in their lifetime. They should live focusing on that goal for ten, twenty, thirty years, seventy years -- and throughout their life. The larger the goal, the stronger they need to commit themselves internally. Unless they do that, they cannot reach that goal. People cannot fulfill their goals unless they maintain an even greater internal determination over the necessary time period. (31-149)

Where is the final destination of the mind? In other words, where is the final destination of our desires? It is where we can occupy God's love. Even if you have God in your possession, without capturing God's love, which is the most precious, God cannot be yours. Therefore, you should occupy God's love. If you occupy His love, then it is all right even if God isn't there.

When the things that belong to God become mine and the things that are mine become God's, the inside and outside can be united for the first time. That kind of nation will become the ideal homeland that has no upper and lower classes.

When you are in that state, all existing beings in the universe will appear to be good, and you will feel that they exist for your sake. If that is the realm of God's love, what kind of place is the spirit world, or heaven, to which all people alive today are to go? It is a place filled with love. (19-210, 1971.1.1)

Even I, the teacher of the Unification Church, will die. But against what background will that come to pass? I will embrace the people and country of Korea, and die for the sake of this world. If the Korean people unite and lay down their lives for the sake of the world, that will open the path or being able to live together with this world. That is why I seek that path. (34-192, 1970.9.6)

The formula course for eternal life is universal. It applies to grandfathers and grandmothers, as well as descendants thousands of years later, and even to those who are in the spirit world now. There is a gate that only those who lived for the sake of others can pass through, and you should know that there are gatekeepers there. Please understand well, that whatever I ask of you is to help qualify you to pass through that gate. (203-193, 1990.6.24)

2.4. Death is an ascension (Sunghwa) to a higher dimension

If human beings had not fallen, someone's passing would have been a happy occasion. That is why I have taught the Unification Church not to greet death in sorrow. Hence, we speak of death as Sunghwa (ascension). (99-353, 1990.2.20)

None of you may like the idea of discarding your flesh and dying; but once you die and discard your flesh, you become a spirit person who can quickly fly away in order to pass through the blessed gates of the second birth. {297-261, 1999.12.19)

In the beginning, we are connected to the placenta and umbilical cord in our mother's womb. We are raised in this placenta which is wrapped around us like cloth. We are born by discarding and cutting away everything as we emerge from this cloth. In the same way, our physical body is like a cloth wrapped around our spirit self. Thus, we break out of it and fly away. Such being the case, we pass through the world of water, the world of land, and the aerial world of light to live ultimately in the eternal world of true love. (298-311, 1999.1.17)

In the Unification Church we do not hold funerals in the usual way after a person's death. Instead, we have a Sunghwa Ceremony. Is there anything to fear in this world? Is there anything to fear in the universe?

From this world of sin and chaos we have to take the form of an autonomous center, aligned with the standard of heaven and earth, and thus enter into an upright position within the realm of God's love. Why do we need to enter the vertical position? It is because it creates no shadow. Can a shadow be found in a vertical position? Everything is perfected. Consequently, as rotation takes place, everything in the environment will align vertically. (198-124, 1990.1.25)

On the day of your death, how to ascend and rise to heaven at a ninety-degree angle will be the challenge. You cannot reach heaven if you stand at a forty-five-degree angle. Only by ascending at a ninety-degree angle can you become the object partner of God's love. God's love goes the shortest distance. Thus, there is no way other than the ninety-degree angle. There is only the vertical way. (215-109, 1991.2.6)

A funeral in the Unification Church is called a Sunghwa Ceremony. The spirit of a dead person will lament if he sees people holding on to his dead body and crying. He will think, "The ignorance of these people is a rope that ties me down and prevents me from going on my way." Since we know these things, the Unification Church refers to death as Sunghwa. Sunghwa means gloriously soaring to heaven. With the power of love you have to push the person along. Do not hold him back, but push him. (199-130, 1990.2.16)

What is the Sunghwa Ceremony? It means to be transformed and go up to another stage. (196-55, 1989.12.2)

People today do not know what it means to die. It is not a sorrowful occasion. It is not a sad occasion. You should see it as a transition from a lower-dimensional world to a higher-dimensional world through the bridge of love. That is why the Unification Church refers to death as Sunghwa. To die is to ascend to a higher dimension. This is only possible through love. (137-316, 1986.1.5)

For whom does God exist? God, the subject of love, exists for the purpose of seeking and raising a partner of love. With what shall He do this? He will do this based on true love. True love is living and investing oneself for the sake of others, and forgetting one's investment. Eternal life can be found here. The entire world is made this way. I myself am like this. As I know the value of eternal life, lacing the gallows is not a problem. There is nothing to fear. That is why the Unification Church refers to death as Sunghwa and its ceremony as the Sunghwa Ceremony.

Unification Church members live in communication with their spouses in the spirit world. That the world today is ignorant of the spirit world leaves me at a loss for words. Do you think spiritual life can be bought with money? (109-160, 1991.11.28)

The Sunghwa Ceremony began with the death of my son, Heung-jin, was established at that time. At the hospital I had to remove his oxygen mask. I had to arrange the way for him to pass into the spirit world. By doing so, he was free from the fallen realm. That is why, when Heung-jin came down again in the spirit, he said that there was no way to repay me. He was the first from the True Parents' family to go to the spirit world as a young adult. Heung-jin went to the spirit world as the Messiah to the spirit world in the same position as the Second Coming. By uniting with him you can go to a high place in the spirit world. (225 136, 1992.1.5)

Our departure to the spirit world is not a sad occasion. Raise the flag of heaven amidst the trumpet call for liberation. Go on boldly, undefeated. Raise the flag signaling your glorious return home. This is the path that lets you proudly enter your original hometown where the nation and all of humanity will welcome you with cheers. It is not a sorrowful occasion. We do not shed tears on these occasions in the Unification Church. What do we call this? We call it the Sunghwa Ceremony. Heung-jin’s ascension brought down the walls of death. That is why it is called the Sunghwa Ceremony. (227-260, 1992.2.17)

Death should not bring dejection or despair. It is not a plunge, but a leap. It is about ascending. For that reason, Unification Church members should not have any dread of death. Death comes in accordance with the natural order of things. It is simply the process of transferring to a better world. (196-270, 1990.1.2)

Love has overcome all the realms of death True love overcomes the realm of death! This is the principle of creation. That is why I declared the Day of Victory of Love. With Heung-jin's ascension to the spirit world, Satan has no basis of accusation towards any of the sons and daughters of the families of the Unification Church when they hold the Sunghwa Ceremony. Even when you board the boat that takes you to the other shore, all the righteous people in the spirit world will come out to welcome you. It is time to connect with that great, history-making revolutionary dimension. (242-278, 1993.1.2)

What is the meaning of the Day of Victory of Love? This is something you have to know. I did not shed even one tear from the time of Heung-jin's passing to when I sent him off to the spirit world. The realm of death had to be overcome. Without the declaration that love had overcome death, the Sunghwa Ceremony could not have been established.

The Sunghwa Ceremony began with Heung-jin, did it not? What is the meaning of "victory of love" in the Day of Victory of Love? It means victory over death. If it were any other person, the mother would be writhing in sorrow, crying and wailing from deep within. Yet Mother could not shed a tear. We had to do this ceremony within three days. I had to proclaim that death was overcome.

In this way, the Sunghwa Ceremony came to be held in the Unification Church. It is a ceremony of going beyond death and onward to joy. Those who go through the Sunghwa Ceremony can easily go beyond all the valleys in the spirit world. Of course, there will be some who fail to do so and remain in-between. You have to understand this. The Sunghwa Ceremony began with Heung-jin. (212-96. 1991.1.2)

We conduct the Sunghwa Ceremony in the Unification Church when a person passes on, don't we? It is the moment of springing up and moving on to a separate world. Therefore, you should shout with joy. The spirit world is visible to a person after he dies and arrives there. You are not going to a place where you cry, but you are moving toward a place of joy. We were ignorant of this fact because our eyes were completely blinded through the Fall. (253-294, 1994.3.11)

Dementia originates when someone's conscience becomes numbed to this world and focuses on the body. It arises when his conscience becomes paralyzed and communicates with the spirit persons in hell. Through good spirits you should let that person remember the ideal of heaven, so that you can gradually allow him to be purified and enable him to ascend to heaven. (258-136, 1994.3.17)

Everyone's birth, marriage and death are recorded in the family register, aren't they? We also have to do the same, but we do not have God's nation. If we have a nation, we have to register our birth, marriage and ascension. When you die, all of you will enter the spirit world as Americans. The gatekeeper there will ask you, "Where did you come from?" You would answer, "I came from America." He will also ask, "Do you want to enter heaven?" When asked, "Where did you come from?" there will be no problem whatsoever in entering heaven if you can answer, "1 came from the Kingdom of Heaven on earth where I was attending True Parents." This is a fact, not just a theory. (278-36, 1996)

2.5. Our attitude in the face of death

When people die, who do they first call upon? They call out to God. The ultimate reality is that people will seek God when they find themselves in the most difficult position. The way to forgiveness can be opened for those who sincerely call upon God at the time of death. Why is that so? It is because such is the way of death. If you can die keeping close to this principle, then the path to resurrection will be opened.

That is why when death comes to people, they all seek God saying, "Oh my God!" This is the truest of all lessons. When a person dies, he usually dies at least saying the right thing. When we observe this, we can see that the person was properly educated, though we may not know who taught him. Nothing truer than this can he said. (26-297, 1969.11.10)

We should form a four position foundation before we die. Those who die without establishing a four position foundation will not be able to walk the path of death properly. Thus, spirits come and go even after death. As you all know this principle, who will you hold on to when you die? First, you will hold on to God, then True Parents. As we are all born through God, we should also die through Him in order to live eternally with God in the spirit world. We were born through God; hence, we should bring our life to a conclusion through Him. Living by this principle is the way of filial piety and the path of loyalty. We arrive at the conclusion that a person who fulfills his duty of filial piety and loyalty has fulfilled the responsibilities that he must carry out in the course of his life. You should live life in this way. (26.297, 1969.11.1)

What will you focus on at the time of your death? Will you die forgetting all about love or will you die embracing it? Whose love will you hold on to when you die? You must first hold on to parental love. Then you should hold on to the love between husband and wife, and then children's love. Death must also conform to the principle of the four position foundation. (26-297, 1969.11.10)

The question is, what will your last words to your children be? What will your last words be? Can you as a parent tell your children to do something that you yourself never practiced? The intentions of those parents would be just to exploit their children. Therefore, if all of you first can practice what you believe in and tell your children before you die, "I lived this way without shame. You should also live like this," then God will protect your last words for eternity. Are you confident that you can leave such words behind to your descendants when you die? This is a serious matter. (26-400, 1969.11.10)

In general, people throughout history, when focusing on the eternal nature of life, have tended to think not only in terms of ten or a hundred years, but of thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of billions of years. Yet when a person dies, it's the same as when an animal dies; what use are the remains? Nowadays, even people who do not believe in God say, "Ah, I have to leave behind an honorable legacy," but what use is it to leave that behind?

Even if one became a patriot for America and was honored with a monument, that monument would be destroyed totally if America perished. Only the American people would know of you. It would not mean much to leave your name behind. Even if you accomplished that, as the ages of history rise and fall, a good name can be treated like a bad one. All rulers will die in less than a hundred years, and nations perish within several hundred or a few thousand years. What would you do if there were someone who would neither die nor perish for eternity? If there were such a person, you would want to bring your name and your legacy to him and leave it all behind with him. Have you ever thought about that? (103-16, 1979.1.28)

You should die within the realm of the Kingdom of Heaven. The heavenly kingdom is larger than any nation on earth, isn't it? You should die in the Kingdom of Heaven, which is only one in heaven and on earth. If so, where will you die? There is a place to die. You should not die in the ordinary Korean way. With the Korean way, no matter how many times you die, it has no meaning. You should die in the highest position centered on the nation of God's heart, which penetrates heaven and earth. You should die in the midst of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is the best place to die. When the entire world opposes you, what will you do? Should you run away? No. You should endure and die in circumstances that lead everyone in heaven and on earth to raise a flag and welcome you. (34-115, 1970.9.6)

As for the numerous people of faith who upheld and followed God's will, they did not retreat before the path of death. Rather, they scorned death and overcame it in a dignified manner. We know very well that throughout history such people exalted the way of heaven.

Each one of you has to maintain the hope that you will overcome death when you come face to face with it. You have to have the hope and desire to stand before heaven in a dignified way when you overcome this path. You have to be able to run with joy to the original world that you yearn for in your heart. You have to realize that you can overcome death only when your heart is desperate, filled with the hope for God's ideal world. (6-53, 1959.3.24)

What kinds of people live with the hope of God? They are those who can cross joyfully over the valley of death that brings sorrow to humankind. Those are the people who hold on to the hope of God. Therefore, you should not become someone who, in the face of death, resents and laments over all the affairs of this world. Instead, you should become someone who can stand before Heaven with joy and be proud of the value of your death. We should know that God is looking for those sons and daughters of hope. God cannot help loving a person who feels the joy of Heaven in such a situation. He cannot help answering the cry of the group of people who cry out to Him from such a position. (6-54, 1959.1.22)

Whosoever loses his life for God's will shall preserve it, and whosoever tries to preserve his life will lose it. What is the meaning of those words? You have to die in the position that calls for you to die for God's will. Then what will happen when you die? You belong to yourself before death; you belong only to God after death. That is because we inherited the fallen lineage.

Accordingly, until we die, our life as a whole cannot be free from its ties to the satanic side. Our ties to God are established after death, however. Which is stronger, life or death? Is life stronger than death? Is death stronger than life?

Death is stronger than life in the satanic world. Therefore, after you come to know God's will, when you face death you should not despise it. (34-47, 1970.2.29)

When Unification Church president, Eu Hyo-won, was about to depart from this world, I asked him, "You have followed this way since you met me, but how are you going to bring it to a conclusion?" Before he passed away, Rev. Eu said that he would never change for all eternity. It has to be that way. The satanic world must in any case die away. Without dying, it cannot be resurrected. Unless we pass through one age, we cannot welcome another. (34-47, 1970.10.29)

What is the meaning of death in the Bible? It does not mean the destruction of eternal life in God. It means killing the life that inherited the fallen lineage of the satanic world. Therefore, whoever is willing to die for God's will shall live. These words sound paradoxical, but we cannot achieve resurrection unless we live like that from the point of view of the Fall and restoration.

This is the normal logic of restoration. The biggest question, therefore, is whether we can offer our lives. How was it when I set out on this path? I reflected on whether I was ready to offer my life. (1970.8.29)

What will you do with your life? You should leave behind a tomb made of love when you pass away. This is the conclusion. Let us leave behind a tomb of love! If you live in the middle of a tomb of love, you will have no bitter regrets. Even if you have had enough of living in a place like a tomb, you will have no resentment if you live in love. Let us live and leave a tomb of love behind! Then, your life will be deemed a success for all eternity.

If you die after living like that, God will bless you and bring His sons and daughters to welcome you in the spirit world. If your hand never wore a ring, God will place a diamond of the Kingdom of Heaven on your finger. If you never wore good clothes, God will clothe you in the best garments of the royal family of the Kingdom of Heaven.

What will you leave behind from your life? A tomb of love. Please understand this and never forget it. Those who are determined to live like that, raise your hands. I see everyone's hands are up. May God's blessings be upon you all. (97-469, 1978.3.12)

2.6. The Blessing opens the path of eternal life

2.6.1. The importance of eternal life

Everyone wants to live his life in his own way. "Living" comes down to everyday life. "Lifetime" means your entire life. Furthermore, religious people use the words “eternal life." An eternal life is not just a lifetime, but a life that continues eternally. How you connect your life course to the eternal reality is important for your eternal life. This becomes your lifelong responsibility. (197-186, 1990.1.14)

How long do you think you will live?

How long? Doesn't everyone think, "We might live until we are seventy or eighty years old?" Don't you think you may die before then? You are greedy. Even though you absolutely believe you will live until eighty or one hundred, you may die tomorrow -- or even today. You may die while you are eating. Do you understand? Or you may take off your shoes and come into the house in the evening, go to bed, and then die during your sleep.

You all think, "Because I'm young, I can live another forty or fifty years." Don't you all have that kind of desire? Did God guarantee that for you? You should think that you could die soon, maybe within a year. You should prepare as if only such a time period remains. You must keep this in mind during your life. The shorter the time you may think you have, the happier you will be. The shorter the time you think you have, the less you have to lose. Preparation during this time represents building your home for your eternal life. (102-122, 1978.11.27)

When you go to bed in the evening after taking off your shoes, do you have confidence that you will be here to put them on again the next morning? No matter how busy you say you are, nothing in this world is more important than the matter of eternal life.

The reason we have people leaving our church is that they do not feel how serious it is for them to resolve the question of eternal life while they are in this world. (10-249, 1960.10.21)

If someone has confidence that a life of faith is not preparation for the present life, the physical life, but is preparation for life in the eternal world, then he will keep his life of faith even if he is left to himself. The more the days and years pass by -- forty years, fifty years -- and the closer the day of death comes, the more serious becomes the concept of eternal life. The older people become the more serious they become. The thought processes weaken as one grows older. However, when the concept of eternal life is involved, people become more serious.

Thus, in the future, only religious thinking can lead this world. How often we experience evil circumstances and chaos! If you can break through and overcome chaotic circumstances, and no matter where you are, keep to an absolute concept of eternal life despite experiencing all kinds of distracting situations, then nothing will be insurmountable for you. (230-22, 1992.4.18)

What kind of beings did God create us to be? God made us the object of His love so that we could possess God's absolute and unique value. This is an amazing fact. How much value does a person's life have these days? How much money is a person worth? A human being's value cannot be expressed in monetary terms. The amazing fact is that God created man and woman as partners in love with such a precious value that they could not be exchanged even for the entire universe! That is astounding! (142-143, 1986.3.8)

We human beings resemble God as God's masterpiece of creation. Necessarily, we should have an eternal nature since God is an eternal being, and thus our mind should not become old. Therefore, we should live eternally. Only because we live eternally do we have value as that masterpiece. (159-281, 1968.5.19)

People, whoever they are, seek to become the best. When someone stands in the highest position, God belongs to him, and that person belongs to God. Thus, he becomes God's son and becomes like God himself. Then, to whom does the universe belong? If God has something that He loves the most and thinks is the most precious, would He have created it in such a way that He would throw it away after spending one day, ten years, or a hundred years with it? Or would He create it to be with Him eternally? He would create it to be with Him for eternity. So it is with humankind. When someone dies, would it be better for him to stay dead or live eternally? He should live eternally. Why? Human beings are the object partners of the absolute God, who created us with absolute love so that He could feel joy. (39-342, 1971.1.16)

If God is an eternal, absolute being, the object of His love should also live eternally. Consequently, human beings have longed for eternal life for time immemorial. God, the Absolute Being, cannot help looking for a loving son and daughter who possesses the value of having eternal life. This should be understood clearly. (39-343, 1971.1.16)

The more love people have for each other, the more they want to be together. Once there was a man whose wife died young, and who then remained single for the rest of his life, carrying her handkerchief. Nehru was this kind of person; having lost his wife when she was young, he wore roses on his clothes the rest of his life because his wife loved roses. When God created His most precious son and daughter, did He create them to perish after one hundred years? Therefore, we can understand the fundamental principle that human beings live eternally. (39-342, 1971.1.10)

Human beings are born from love, grow up in love, live with love and die with love. Yet they do not just disappear. God, who is the Subject, is eternal, unchanging, and unique. Hence, human beings can also live eternally when they can stand as objects of love before God. This is where eternal life originates from. It does not begin from life. (142-113, 1986.3.3)

Since God is eternal, absolute, and lives forever, when we say that human beings were created because of love, it is naturally logical that anyone who is united with true love can attain eternal life. Therefore, to attain eternal life, we should live in the realm of true love. (211-272, 1990.12.30)

We can live forever! We want to attain eternal life! We desire eternal life; so what is it that is unchanging? The answer is love. That's how it is. All other things change according to their environment, so why doesn't love change? Love does not change because it exists as the center of power for all life. Why doesn't love change? It is because love occupies the central position of the ideal environment. The center does not disappear until all the surroundings have disappeared. Love is the center of the universe. Since that love is united with God's love, anything that unites with that love can remain as long as God exists. (157-267, 1967.4.10)

Eternal life! We are people who live eternally. We are also the people who practice true love. We practice the way of eternal life and true love here on earth. Whatever we do here, such as working in a factory, can provide material for the broadening of our eternal life.

Please think that the purpose of your job is to train yourself for eternal life and to produce training material that can enhance your eternal life. All of you need eternal life and true love at all times. You will need these for eternity. (216-122, 199?.2.9)

The perfection of the body and mind is made possible fundamentally through that which belongs to true love. The infinite Original Cause created the growing process as a way that could lead to the bearing of ideal fruit through love alone. God exists forever because of, and rooted in, true love alone.

As a result of what can God exist forever? Eternal life is connected with love. Therefore, you need to live in an environment of love in order to create an environment of eternal life. To attain the substantial realm of love, we must have a substantial experience of love. (218-134, 1991.7.14)

If someone asks you how to attain eternal life, how will you answer him? Can you attain eternal life just by believing in Jesus? Are you saved through your faith? It doesn't make any sense. Only through love can you be saved.

Looking from the viewpoint of the essence of God's principles of creation, only a true person is the partner of God's love. Therefore, if someone has true love he can live for eternity. Once you enter the realm of that love, whether you are in the spirit world or on earth, you will be able to see where you are going to live in the spirit world. (315-53, 1991.2.6)

2.6.2. The concept of eternal life originates in love

How can we describe God's attributes? They are mysterious. God is absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging. There is no way to deny this. A person with those qualities of love is an absolutely happy person, uniquely happy person, eternally happy person and unchangingly happy person. Eternal, absolute, unchanging and unique. Freedom and ultimately, an absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal kind of holiness is found in such circumstances. By inheriting these attributes, eternal life automatically results. That is the way it is. (279-73, 1996.7.24)

If you have love you do not mind whether you eat or not. People in love do not get tired when they don't sleep, or hungry when they don't eat. People in love can overcome time and space. If God's partner of love were to come to Him do you think God would sleep when night falls? He can transcend the night when His beloved partner appears. It is from here that the concept of eternal life originates. As long as the power of eternal love continues, you can live for eternity. The eternal life of joy is possible because love can overcome and absorb everything. (277-22, 1996.3.17)

If God is absolute love, we can logically conclude that if we become an absolute partner in relation to that love, and thereby become a unified being, we will live forever -- as long as God exists eternally. Humankind has not known this. People have not been aware that we human beings are created as the object partner God absolutely needs. Were this not the case, it would be logical that God would live alone. (262-137, 1994.7.23)

God is the standard of absolute value. Centered on absolute love, the person who seeks God and absolute love can never deny the heavenly sovereignty as the partner. Even God, as the Absolute Being, cannot deny this. The position that we have attained with absoluteness cannot be denied. This is something that is firmly settled. This is why God's love is eternal. Since God is an eternal being, through forming a relationship of that kind of love, eternal life is established as a realm of relationships that is naturally in accord with this. Thus, the way of life of the person of true love will remain forever on earth, in the physical world and in the spirit world. This cannot be denied. As there are no relationships of true love in the fallen world, people end up in hell. (272-63, 1995.5.30)

Love has an eternal quality within it. Partners of love are unwilling to separate. True love is eternal. The partners unceasingly resist being separated. For that reason, eternal life can be found in true love. Eternal life cannot be found where there is separation. This is why love is great. Love is unchanging and eternal. When we establish a blood relationship centering on true love, we will naturally live forever.

God is the subject of unchanging love. Love is united with God, the subject partner. Since God is unchanging and eternal, it is logical to conclude that God's object partner who unites with His love is also unchanging and eternal. (289-133, 1995.1.1)

If the parents infinitely invest and sacrifice for the sake of their children, as long as true love is behind this, the child will be infinitely grateful for that true love; and the parents compensate for their sacrifice by experiencing great joy. By developing the action of giving and receiving the power of sacrificial true love in this manner, we come into a relationship of eternal joy and peace from within the true family and the true world. The ideal world of eternal life manifests itself in these places. (288-199, 1997.11.28)

This universe grew in size from a small point in this way: through partners coming into existence, unceasing motion occurred and the universe came into existence. The universe has been engaged in endless motion by the power of inertia that transpires in the dimension of space.

In other words, centering on a model relationship of partners -- for example in the solar system -- the solar system would be created, then it would enter into maturity and engage in endless motion. In the same way, when Adam and Eve become one centering on and by the action of the love that completely lives for the other, they can engage in ceaseless motion.

Thus eternity and eternal life begin. Eternity cannot be found on a straight line. The realm of eternal life is not there. Eternity comes from rotation and revolution. For that reason, the phenomenon of historical development has gradually grown in scale through rotation. This rotation has only one center. (261-151, 1994.6.9)

That which harmonizes with the origin of the great principles of the universe can exist for eternity. Anything else will perish. Since God exists forever, His object partner that lives for others exists eternally. With logic, we naturally come to this conclusion with regard to the principles of eternal life. Is that clear? (260-254, 1994.5.19)

The entity we call "myself" was created to be an object partner of God's love. We are in the position of object partner to the absolute God who stands as the subject partner. We are partners to God in love. God values the concept of true love more than He values His own being.

God is the center of absolute and eternal life. Therefore, God's ideal is more profoundly eternal, and the center of that ideal is the reality of true love. We are the partners in that love. How do we enter that eternal realm? How precious the position of God's eternal partner is! It is where the subject partner and object partner become one. When that happens, we can be located anywhere, and follow God wherever He goes. We can inherit God's entire fortune. We can inherit the realm of God's eternal life, and even His Heart.

God's heart of love, God's heart that belongs with creation, God's heart of wanting to reside in the heart of every single person -- we can inherit all of these things. How precious this is! How joyful it is to discover that great value! It is a most sublime and noble position that nothing can rival. It is an amazing grace. (216-115, 1991.3.9)

When the atmospheric pressure falls to an absolute low, a high pressure area is immediately created and this automatically brings about circulatory movement. God is the King of true wisdom. Why should one invest everything and then give it no further thought? It is because the principle of circulation guarantees eternal reciprocation. The theory of eternal life is thereby logically established.

When you invest, invest again and invest still more; the theory of eternal life will operate. When you live for others you will not perish. The small things go to the bigger things and the bigger things go back into the center. (204-107. 1990.7.1)

When God looks for a partner of absolute love, whom does He seek? We can conclude with certainty that He seeks a human being. Therefore we find the old proverb, "Amongst all creation, human beings are most precious." What does this mean? We can reach the logical conclusion that humankind can be the partner of the Creator's eternal love, and it is natural that the partner who is one with God's love will live forever.

Eternal life is a natural implication of this logic. Eternal life begins from here. The question of how to establish a rational argument for eternal life based on the relationship of love is an extremely precious one in religion. Eternal life cannot he found in only man or only woman. It cannot he found in God alone. We can conclude that eternal life lies within God's love. (218-211, 1991.7.29)

Now you can stand in the same position as God, to the extent that you can even participate in the realm of eternal true love. Search where you will, you will not find this concept of eternal life anywhere else. Since you were born as an eternal being, you pass on to the Spirit World after this life. You will make an amazing leap in one second. The spirit world is a dimension different from this limited earthly world. You cannot move freely within restricted confines. The spirit world is a higher-dimensional place, so you can do anything there. You can jump beyond time. If you have a desire for something centering on true love, you can obtain it anytime, anywhere. This is on an infinite scale. (216-115, 1991.3.9)

I live for eternity; I am connected to true love centered on God; I am connected to true life centered on God; I am connected to the true lineage centered on God. The conclusion is clear: I live for eternity centering on true love, like God. God created me this way. If you come to fulfill this portion of responsibility, you will be truly successful. (216-115, 1991.3.9)

Even God breathes. He breathes with love. Since God also keeps in time with the universe, the universe can continue for eternity centering on love. Eternal life can be found in love. Consequently, all of you should attain it. Only then can you enter into the realm of God's breath and quickly achieve harmony. (201-191, 1990.4.1)

If you begin with the reasoning that God's providence is living and moving in history on earth, and that its purpose is to pave the way for eternity, then you can understand that this process is facilitated through religious faith. Otherwise, the foundation for getting this on solid ground, the foundation to impart faith on earth, will be frustrated. By clearly pointing out the limitations of the age, one can establish a solid groundswell of faith.

As I cooperate with God's work on earth, the spirit world that has fulfilled God's will can relate to our actual life today, enabling us to grasp the concept of living eternally with God. Therefore, the purpose of this earthly life is for us to prepare for the eternal life to which it is directly connected. People cannot lead an authentic life of faith without understanding this reality: (198-7, 1990.1.20)

2.6.3. Blessing and eternal life

Fallen people must change their lineage. This is a fundamental issue. The relationship of God and humankind is that of parent and children. Since all these facts have remained unknown. The problems of history could not be resolved, and to this day people have been ignorant of God's providence. The change of lineage must be carried out within all the realms: the individual, family, people, nation and world. The Messiah must come and do this. Without the Parent, the lineage cannot be changed.

An individual has to take responsibility for all these problems. That individual should continue to move forward by solving these things. Since people are ignorant of this, the Messiah, who knows these things, comes and does all this for them. (161-147, 1987.1.18)

All of you must inherit a new lineage. In order for you to do that, the Messiah comes as the Father. He, together with Eve, should restore this new lineage through indemnity on the victorious individual foundation that goes beyond the world, where Satan cannot intervene. He will establish sons and daughters through families centering on marriage, and horizontally carry out the task of engrafting.

That is the reason for having the Blessing Ceremony in the Unification Church. The Unification Church is unique. Where did the lineage of the Unification Church originate? It originated from God. That is why we dare the satanic world to oppose us. When they oppose us they have to pay compensation for the damages they incur. (169-37, 1987.10.4)

Because they received Satan's lineage, human beings cannot go back to God by themselves. The Messiah must absolutely restore and purify the lineage which Satan contaminated. He has to change this lineage. That is why the Messiah must come. Unless the Messiah comes, the lineage cannot be restored. The lineage must be restored. (172-53, 1989.1.7)

What will we see in the age of the Last Days? People will have sexual relationships with others of the same family. Incest will be rampant. It will be the same amongst family and relatives. Why will it be like this? Who was Jesus' father? It was Zachariah. Christianity speaks of Jesus' conception through the Holy Spirit, but that is an incomplete understanding. Do you know what an unfertilized egg is? What is an unfertilized egg? Like a hen's egg, the seed did not enter that egg. Fallen people today can be likened to unfertilized eggs. They have nothing to do with God. That is why they do not have eternal life. (274-256, 1995.11.3)

What is the mission of the True Parents? They must correct the false lineage which is the root of the satanic world, restore the false life to true life, and put right the false way of love. The Bible tells us that whosoever loses his life will preserve it, and whosoever tries to preserve his life will lose it. Why did such a paradoxical statement have to appear? It is because the satanic world must die. (169-37, 1987.10.4)

Who is going to change the lineage? Not just anyone can do that. You have to know that I walked the way of the tearful cross in order to do this work. It is because of this standard of heart that you, without having merit, can inherit the new tradition of the Blessing.

God had to labor for thousands of years, and as the substantial manifestation of God, I had to go through a life of suffering in order to establish the victorious authority based on the transition of lineage. All of you now stand on the foundation of these efforts. The Blessing means engrafting to God's lineage. Through the process of engrafting the lineage is changed. (51-78, 1970.10.13)

Thus, only when the vertical Parent and the horizontal parents harmoniously join together centered on true love can this a place of convergence of firmly established love become the origin of life and the connection to the lineage. People born from that place are sons and daughters born in God's love and beings who can live for eternity with God's lineage. In this way, they become a royal family that can maintain the lineage for the future generations in the eternal Kingdom of Heaven. (245-94, 1993.2.28)

When you live together in love you can connect to eternal life. True love is the love desired by God. As God is absolute, unchanging and eternal, we come to the conclusion that human beings who are the objects of God's love, also live forever. This is a logical conclusion. There is no room for doubt at all. (247-223, 1993.5.9)

Didn't you all attend the ceremony for changing the lineage at the time you received the Blessing? You have to believe in this more than in your own life. Even though this is a ceremony of the Unification Church, you should not think of it as a religious ceremony it is an injection to raise you from the dead. It is the antidote. (216.109, 1991.3.9)

The Messiah may be the one who changes the lineage, but it is the individual who has to take action so that his or her lineage can be changed. Without establishing such a standard you cannot reach the path to salvation. This is not easy to achieve. You have to go beyond the point of not knowing whether you will live or die. Changing the lineage is only possible when, for example, you do a forty-day fast or pass through a state of near death where you spew blood. (35-160. 1970.10.13)

First, you should genuinely yearn for the Parents with all your heart. You will not receive salvation unless you attend the Parents with the attitude that they are the source of your life, the entirety of your hope, and the origin of all your ideals and happiness.

Have you ever offered attendance like that? You should clearly understand this. Therefore, you should have the firm conviction that you are the sons and daughters who can eternally unite with True Parents, to the extent that it surpasses the awareness of your very existence. You must have that kind of conviction. (30-337, 1970.3.23)

The Fall was in fact an erroneous marriage in the Garden of Eden. Now this can be reversed by having the True Parents conduct a proper marriage. By clearing away the mistakes committed by the false parent, the True Parent can abolish hell and give the Blessing of marriage even to the hundreds of billions of ancestors in the spirit world. Through the family foundation of their descendants on this earth centered on true love, the ancestors in the spirit world and their descendants on earth can vertically unite as one; and furthermore, with this family foundation as a starting point, east and west can be connected. (300-222, 1999.3.14)

How much should you love me? This goes back to the fundamental problem. You should not love in a position that has traces of the satanic world and that is tainted with the love of that world. You should be in a higher position. What position is that? You should love me more than you love your parents, spouse and children born in the satanic world.

That is why in the Bible Jesus says, "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." He reached this clear conclusion for everyone. Later, he also says, "Take your cross and follow me." He asks you to take up your own cross. Taking up the cross means overcoming the power which pulls you in the opposite direction is taking up the cross. You should shed bitter tears over this. (178-97, 1988.6.1)

When you go to the spirit world it will be like this: it will be a place with no shadows, a place overflowing with light from the eternal morning. The white light becomes so bright that it changes to a purple light. It changes to silver and golden hues. The light of electricity is the light of love. Lightning flashes when the positive electricity comes together with the negative electricity. In the same way, God's inner nature and external form come together and manifest like lightning. Lightning is the light of the eternal true love. That is the essence of eternal life. You have to reach that final destination. (292-265, 1998.4.26) 

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