The Words of the Beutl Family
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The Words of the Beutl Family |
My dear brothers and sisters,
The organizers of the Global Peace Initiative of Women concluded a reflection letter on the Assisi Summit with the following words: “The work of GPIW is to keep gathering, to keep coming together, knowing that our collective effort can bring much benefit to the world right now, at a time when wisdom, love and unity are very much needed. In Divine Friendship…“ As members of the Unification Movement we are blessed to have the deepest foundation of wisdom, love and unity, ideally with Divine Friendship connecting our hearts -- what the world needs to be healed.
The last verse of St Francis prayer says: “It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Jesus spoke about having to be ready to lose one’s life in order to win it. Our True Parents taught us to let our fallen self die completely so that we may be reborn without any fallen nature. To the extent we manifest such qualities the support of Heaven is surely with us in our daily life.
Our beloved Elder Brother and president of our movement, Hyung Jin Nim, went to the border of what one can bear on an external level when he made the 21 000 bows condition and learned precious lessons through this special training about becoming completely selfless. Personally I am convinced that it is indeed important that we are ready to challenge our limitations on internal and external levels in order to enrich our lives and to ensure the presence of the highest spiritual world as we strive to expand the realm of True Love on this earth.
I wanted to mention shortly my experience on my fifth day in Assisi when I left the monastery where I stayed early in the morning to walk up Monte Subasio where St. Francis spent many days of his life. As there are no trees on the top I tried to get into the higher regions as soon as possible -- and once again Heaven had prepared a good hearted man who stopped and took me in his car up the road for some part even though he was on his way to work where he should go down the hill.
When I reached the mountain top I had the chance to take photos of a herd of some 20 horses, 2 donkeys and many cows on a rather dry meadow, even managing to get a calf, that had gone through the fence and could not find the way back in, to its mother-cow which was important on that hot day where it surely needed some milk. From there I continued my path in that beautiful part of Umbria, covering some 1000 meter of height difference. I saw probably more butterflies than on any other day of my life, including the one which exists only on that mountain and in no other part of the world.
After having walked for about 10 hours on that day on which the temperatures went up to 38 degrees Celsius I approached a town in the valley. By that time I was already quite exhausted and grateful that once again there was a car prepared to bring me back close to Assisi. There I meditated in a church with a very peaceful heart and afterwards I visited a bookshop where my attention was drawn to a book entitled: Assisi -- The Heart of the World.
I thought to myself: If Assisi is in such a position, then it should also provide education on the level of heart -- which surely many people receive who come there with the desire to find a deeper relationship to God and to His creation as it is a place where great saints pioneered this realm of enriching one’s life through heart to heart relationships with our Creator and the world He has made for us.
Such an education of heart can surely be found at so many other places in this world, but the basic requirement is always the same: An open heart and mind to receive in a profound way the love and goodness which is offered, and the readiness to establish heartistic unity with others -- especially among us as members of the Unification Movement who have been called to excel in the area of oneness in love.
Jesus asked in this respect: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35), and this is the quality through which the people should recognize us as the ones who follow the True Parents of Mankind. It is obvious that the better we do in this central realm of building bonds of heart the more we are assured of the support of the absolute good spirits who long to live in a world where true love abounds.
In Jin Moon spoke on August 16, 2009 about the theme of “Team Spirit and Unity” while Hyung Jin Nim prayed on that day that our Unification Movement may come together, "that we can show unity, that we can show hope that we are one, that we can come together with one heart". I am convinced that such an attitude of wanting to realize a union of our hearts as true brothers and sisters is the key to attract the continued support of the absolute good spirits who are eager to see us resolve all of our problems so that they can grow with us. May we all give them many opportunities to do so!
In respect to the coming together as children of God I would like to tell you about my most recent visit at the center of the community founded by Sant Kirpal Singh called Unity of Man. This group originated in North India where they have a beautiful place for people from all religious backgrounds to come together for the sake of deeper mutual understanding, with a library for a comparative study of religions, where the Holy Scriptures are available, a public school, and a hospital where free medical care is offered to the poor…
Their center in the western world is situated in Austria near Salzburg, where they have a big house with 12 rooms for guests which they offer free of charge for people who are searching. From this home in St. Gilgen it is only a few minutes walk to the Wolfgang Lake, with the beautiful surrounding supporting the study of the foundation and practices of this community whose basic guideline is expressed in the motto: “Be Good -- Do Good -- Be One”. The members of this group strive to weed out weaknesses and imperfections, to live for others and to realize the unity of the soul with the God based on a universal teaching, expressing the essence of all religions.
The stated goals and principles are in various areas similar to those of our movement as they advocate that the connection between man and the Almighty is the base of the unity of mankind -- the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God. According to the personal standard of the individual a certain union of hearts could be felt among the ones who gathered in commemoration of their founders passing when I attended their service and stayed overnight in their center.
They call the main room where they meet for their Sunday Service “Satsang”, referring to the state of being in constant contact with God as the members strive to become one with our Creator. At the front wall a very big picture of Sant Kirpal Singh and Harbhajan Sing are displayed. A smaller room for prayer and meditation is adjoined, where that evening one woman prayed with many tears.
The Unity of Man is registered as an organization to improve human relationships. Its late founder Sant Kirpal Singh is called “Master”, while his late son Harbhajan Singh is referred to as “Brother” and his wife H. H. Surinder Kaur, who is now the spiritual head of this community, was formerly addressed as “Sister” and now as “Mother” by the members. Still when I was in their midst I felt strongly the lack of true parental love -- the precious heartistic foundation which has been established by our True Father and True Mother.
This community, which has in its symbol a Sikh Temple beside a temple, a mosque and a church was founded by San Kirpal Sing, who was born on January 6, 1896 -- a quarter of a century before True Father -- represents one of the many groups that have been inspired by Heaven “to prepare the way of the Lord” but did not (yet) manage to unite with the True Parents while doing precious work to advance the cause of unity in the world.
Dr. Harbhajan Singh emphasized: “If the ideal of unity has become our heart-felt desire, it will spread like a wildfire burning all hatred, enmity, separation… What will prevail is oneness.” He is now already in spirit world but we are here, called to be people whose heart is burning with such a longing for unity. For me it is clear that Heaven prepared the circumstances to bring me to the Western world center of this community who advocates the attitude “As long as you are in the body -- give, give and give!”
Dr. Singh started his speech at the UN World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, 1993) with: “Dear brothers and sisters, I want to have some heart-to-heart talk with you…” that “There is only one solution: to forgive and to forget.” This is also our conviction and I wish that we all manage to put this attitude into practice in every situation where we feel hurt. Such a heart is surely a key to live the liberated life we are destined to enjoy at this time of God’s advanced providence.
He reminded his audience of Jesus words to be perfect as our Father in Heaven and added that we can give a lot to others with such a mindset: “Only when we rise above the narrow confines or our own self, our own family, our own community or nation, we can take into our hearts the concerns and sufferings of our near and far neighbors…” He encouraged the listeners to go back to their countries and to practice the higher values of life, so that there may be an eternal peace in our hearts.
In the commemorative book on the 1994 World Conference on Unity of Man one can find a letter from the North Indian representative of the Religious Youth Service in which he expresses his desire to cooperate with this organization in their noble deeds. To reach out to other groups and to offer our readiness to work together with them is indeed essential for us to succeed as we could witness e.g. through the Global Peace Festivals.
The basic teaching of the Unity of Man starts with: “Man or soul is a conscious entity, being of the same essence as God. We are all members of His family, and thus related to each other as brothers and sisters in Him.”
The decisive question for all of us is again and again: To which extent do we practice such an attitude? The quality of the relationships we establish determines which realm we will be able to go to when we enter the spirit world.
In this sharing about my recent experiences I emphasized the support of Heaven for our work if we manage to set the right conditions for it, which includes many times a cutting of the doves -- little details which are very important not to be missed. While the absolute good spirits are dedicated to help us, the negative spirit world is just as well very active and prepares situations in which we may be severely attacked. Our attitude in such situations when we suffer unjustly decides how far Heaven can help us to move ahead.
I will not speak about the negative and painful experiences I encounter because we all have them but would like to emphasize that there is so much blessing prepared for each one of us -- if only we are ready to truly follow in the footsteps of our True Parents. God’s presence is with them because they went through all the extreme struggles of their lives victoriously.
The more we go ahead to advance the building of Cheon Il Guk the more challenges we may have to face but we can all be victorious in the long run if we are ready to wholeheartedly protect each other, care deeply for one another -- if we establish a culture of heart and love which our Heavenly Father is longing to see realized in us as His beloved children.
Wishing for each one of you to achieve precious victories of heart and love daily I remain yours sincerely,
your brother,
Nikolaus