The Words of the Beutl Family
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The Words of the Beutl Family |
My dear brothers and sisters,
How do we feel when we hear that we get a chance to meet with the True Parents directly? Or how do we react if we find out that a member of the True Family will not only come to your town but will also visit your family? Does such news -- the prospect of this becoming a reality -- stir up some feelings in us?
Let us be one more step concrete: How do we feel as we prepare to host a member of the True Family for an evening dinner in our home? Will we be even more excited if it is not only one person but a couple like Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim who want to spend an evening with us? Will we sense extra energy rising up from deep within, some special excitement to be able to spend a few precious hours together in a heavenly atmosphere?
I suppose this is the case for most of us. Surely it is for me. But here I want to ask, why do we feel lifted up if a person whom we love and appreciate deeply visits us? The answer is clear. Because by treating another person with profound respect as a son or daughter of God we do what our Heavenly Father created us for -- to live together with others in holy relationships which allow His presence among us as His children.
Our time on this earth is limited, our days are counted, the years fly by, and sooner or later our time on this earth will be up. How will we feel in that last hour? Will we have some regret because we could have done better or will we look back in gratitude that we could spend our days wisely dedicated to the practice of true love, in every situation while relating to the people we met? Hopefully none of us will feel deep regret in that hour being sorry for not having lived a more fruitful life. It is already now that we decide how we will feel in the future. Are we determined not to allow any shallowness to creep into our lives but to keep going steadily pursuing the highest ideals of living in the presence of God while respecting others as His temples where His spirit dwells?
We live now in the 9th year of Cheon Il Guk in which we are called to proclaim the authority of True Love and True Life. What is the highest authority in our lives? When we have a closer look at our daily activities, can we confidently say that it is God’s Heart and His True Love guiding our decisions and leading us through challenging situations victoriously?
I suppose each one of us wants this to be a reality but when we check with what kind of heart and attitude we approach other people can we still be certain that we do it with such an inner conviction that they all are created to live in love and therefore need to experience True Love - to which we ourselves want to contribute?
The core question is: How do we feel about one another? It is easy to feel good when meeting a wonderful man or woman of God who has a pure heart and mind but the problem starts when we meet with miserable people who are full of struggles… With what kind of attitude do we cope with such challenging situations of having to deal with them?
Our True Parents taught us that to treat everybody as a holy person. How close does our behavior come to this ideal standard? Do we manage to live up to this high goal or are we (far) distant from it? The answer to this question will of course differ from person to person but I wanted to mention this point because I see it as a very central issue which each one of us needs to look into: How do I treat my neighbor?
There is a moving story that may well have happened in the past. You can read this valuable content what I recommend very much through connecting with the link: www.begin.ie/index.php?option=com_contentandtask=viewandid=159andItemid=3
Personally I have been indeed touched when I read it because it deals with an issue that is close to my heart and gives the right answer to the basic question of how to improve the relationships among people of faith and in this way to bring down Heaven’s blessings. The essence of the story is that because the brothers living together in a monastery came to think that one of them is the messiah they started to treat each other with much respect as they did not know who among their brethren would be in such a precious position. And from such an attitude the whole community benefited greatly.
In December 2003 representatives from many countries came to Israel to celebrate the coronation of Jesus Christ. At that time Rev. Chang Shik Yang spoke to a few hundred members of the Unification Movement. In his talk he emphasized that we need to find the messiah in our brothers and sisters. I was very pleased to hear him speak about this point which is especially relevant in the Holy Land where our efforts for reconciliation are done under the theme “Heart to Heart for Peace in the Middle East” because only bonds of heart can resolve the difficult issues that have led not long ago to another tragic war in that part of the world.
Our True Parents have taught us that we should not look only for the messiah to save us from the position of parents but also receive our spouse as the second and our children as the third messiah through whom our hearts can be liberated to enter deeper realms of heartfelt experiences. From this viewpoint it is important that we also find in our brothers and sisters the ones who can be for us in the position of a messiah in the realm of brotherly or sisterly love to resolve issues of which we could not yet take care well enough in this area.
With such an understanding that we have precious loved ones and friends who can be for us in a position of a messiah who supports and protects us it will be much more easy to fulfill our own mission as tribal or national messiah. I am certain that it is one of the keys to success in our life to make sure that the various levels of “messiahship” are well manifested in our lives through a close relationship to the True Parents of Mankind and their family, to our spouse and children just as well as to brothers and sisters who can represent the position of a messiah on that level.
When we live with such a consciousness we will be much more secure emotionally and more stable spiritually because we can be certain that we do have the support of a true personal messiah on the vertical level through our True Father and our True Mother and our own precious physical and spiritual children, on the horizontal level through our husband or wife and our brothers and sisters.
For this to become a reality there has to be first of all an investment of heart. We need to build close heart to heart relationships in which we can truly be a messiah for one another. The ones who are familiar with the book “The Victory of Love” know that our beloved Elder Brother Heung Jin Nim invested very much here on earth and since his passing at an early age into the spirit world from there in order to support the building of close heartistic relationships to our True Parents and among us as their children.
On the Day of Victory of Love at the beginning of this year Hoon Sook Nim said in her Commemorative Address during which she cried tears of gratitude: “We must become victors after inheriting True Parents’ true love. Heung Jin Nim overcame Satan’s death trial against True Parents and showed the mindset of sacrificing oneself to preserve one’s integrity. I offer my gratitude to Heung Jin Nim, Commander-in-Chief in Heaven, who, through his true sacrifice, made it possible for True Parents to conclude True Parents’ Cheon Il Guk victory.”
Especially the early members of the Unification Movement made incredible sacrifices in order to pioneer the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Of course there have also been mistakes made but sadly they have caused many to be disappointed and discouraged, giving up on the precious high ideals. Therefore it is indeed important that we have a second look at ourselves to see clearly to what extent we are affected by the mistakes of other people. How does our perception of them change when we hear about this or that person having made this or that wrong?
A beautiful atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust may be lost again through bad rumors which are spread. Satanic forces are working hard to divide people while each member of the Unification Movement is called to be an expert in overcoming distrust and building bridges from heart to heart. Ever so readily we may judge people from external viewpoints without knowing the inner content of their actions and in this way lose valuable relationships. On the other hand, if we go beyond our inner limitations that hinder us to treat each other as true brothers and sisters and develop a deep respect for one another as God’s sons and daughters then we will naturally have an openness which will enable us to establish bonds of heart as members of a loving worldwide family.
The real strength of any religious community lies in the depths of the relationships among its members. In this respect the Unification Church started on a very precious basis in the early days of our Movement but much of it has been lost along the way due to fallen nature which gives easily more importance to one mistake of a person than to 100 good deeds done by that individual. This sad reality needs to be changed urgently if we are to succeed in building a world of true love where there is place for every child of God in our own hearts.
May we all be victorious in our own minds and souls to go beyond the temptation of using the poison of judging others as it harms ultimately ourselves the most! In the religious world there is definitely too much self-righteousness and hypocritical attitudes around which must be eradicated first of all in ourselves so that we will get there where we should be: Looking at each other with the eyes of God and treating our brothers and sisters accordingly.
Our beloved elder Brother Heung Jin Nim expressed so many times His desire for our Heavenly Father to be present in ourselves when he said: “May God see through your eyes. May God speak through your mouths. May God hear through your ears…” while our True Parents encouraged us again and again to live in the presence of God, fully aligned with His Heart. The more we invest into this most precious realm the more we will be able to find God in the hearts of His children and naturally our relationships among us will improve greatly. For this very purpose I have been reaching out to you through my letters of reflecting on various topics which are relevant for all of us.
I firmly believe that we need to support each other wholeheartedly as true brothers and sisters based on deep respect for one another in order to reach individually the goals and ideals for which we long deep inside. We understand that God cannot be happy without us but this is just as well true for our situation. We can only find true fulfillment if we establish bonds of heart where true love can flow to the ones who stand in a position of a messiah towards us: The True Parents, my spouse, my physical / spiritual children -- the ones to whom we establish a true parent child relationship knowing that a child is such a precious teacher in the realm of hear, and last but not least my brother and sister who stands in the position of a messiah for us if we allow it to be by opening our hearts to connect as true brothers and sisters who take full responsibility for one another.
It is my fervent hope and desire that we will all succeed in this realm of building heart to heart relationships by making ourselves the first step of trusting others, investing ourselves for them with all of our heart and mind and soul while keeping an attitude of being dedicated to the happiness of my “neighbor” as precious son or daughter of God rather than being concerned about our own well-being and the benefits for ourselves in the relationships we build and cultivate in daily life.
Sincerely yours,
Nikolaus