The Words of the Beutl Family
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The Words of the Beutl Family |
My dear brothers and sisters,
One national leader who is successful and respected in the outside world, an exemplary and much appreciated leader in our movement, wrote the following lines in response to my recent series of reflections:
“Dear Nikolaus,
I was reading your last letters many times and I felt really in resonance with your words. As I was showing the PowerPoint Presentation to the brothers and sisters last Sunday before giving the Holy Wine, I felt really inspired by the slides showing the three ages and the way we have to go to be perfect until we arrive under God’s direct dominion. I had like a flash in my mind when I realize the huge value that we have to live in a time since 2000 in which we can live under God’s direct dominion! And how much those three growing stages until perfection are like a real school of love with our spouse as our teacher. It is our spouse who helps us to grow and the more terrible our spouse is the more quickly we can grow. So, there is nothing to complain about our spouse.
Those who like to grow until perfection will take any opportunities to grow. But some are staying on the same level for years. What a pity when we understand how short life is and how grateful we can be to receive the Divine Principle and the Blessing. As I watched the slide with the three periods of growth I thought they are like kindergarten, primary school and secondary school. How many times we could not succeed our examinations, and we had a second chance? I feel deeply how we can be the most grateful people on this planet to have the True Parents with us and our family to grow. It is difficult to express my heart but I’m sure you will understand my feeling.”
Can we relate to this brother’s desire who is searching intensively to connect with the heart of God and our True Parents and his striving to grow through people who may be very difficult to get along with? Do we have such a readiness to go through the needed school of love to reach perfection in our ability to love so that our Heavenly Father can guide us directly in every situation?
I suppose that the answer to these questions is for most of you clearly “Yes”. We long to live in union with our Father in Heaven like our True Parents and we suffer from the separation between us and our Creator who had invested all of His Heart into us as His beloved children. But in reality many of us have been or are stuck in our development as this brother mentioned. In order to get out of such a state we have to know clearly what brought us there and what is needed in order to go on -- to liberate ourselves from a certain midway position in which many members have got stuck along the way.
The solution to our personal problems have to reach each one of us individually according to the spiritual situation we are in. The answers are there. They are available, accessible. They can be grasped and understood. They are not out of our reach. They are indeed in front of our door and not far away in an unknown distance. The only reason why we are not fully aware of them and why we do not apply them in our daily life is me: My being too much centered on my own emotions and feelings, on my own (bad) past experiences, on my own concepts and thinking of what is right and what should be done in certain situations.
Why do I say this? Because according to God being our loving Father / Mother in Heaven who made each blade of grass, who brought forth the incredible beauty of creation for us as His beloved sons and daughters, knows each one of us ever so well and provides all what we need with a the heart of a parent who wants the very best for His children.
In other words: What we need is there, waiting to be recognized and used for our benefit, but it is us who are blind due to our being too much centered on ourselves, suffering in the self-made prison of self-pity -- or whatever it may be that hinders me or you to be free to see what Heaven has prepared for us to get out of the situation where we may be stuck so that we can be free to go forward with a hopeful heart.
The above quoted brother mentioned one’s spouse as a valuable resource of growth. And he rightly did so. God and True Father had first of all our spiritual growth towards perfection and the well being of our future children in mind when matching us to a partner who may be very different from us and not easy to digest.
The essence of our situation is the following: God and True Parents offer us the right solution for our problems but we are in many cases blind to recognize the messiah in our spouse, in our children or parents and in our brother or sister. Growth means changes, to go through many kinds of transformations as we overcome difficulties that are the fertilizer, helping us to become strong in our hearts, able to love all kinds of people.
In practical terms we learn through fundraising and witnessing to become humble and sensitive to the support through the spiritual world in order to become a more and more loving person. Consequently we hinder our own development and spiritual growth if we are not ready to go out to raise funds for God -- in whatever form we may see it fit -- and lack in our desire to testify to God’s will in front of others.
When we reflect very honestly about our internal situation we are bound to realize that it is not this or that person whom we consider the bad guy in our life who hinders us on our way to God but we ourselves are the core problem: My attitude towards others.
I write these lines on this historic day of the Cosmic Blessing for all brothers and sisters worldwide. For us here in Linz, Austria, it was 4 am that we had gathered for the Blessing Ceremony with our Sunday Service room being completely filled, but no internet transmission appeared on the screen in front of us. We waited and waited and waited for about one hour to get the right connection but it was not possible. (In case you would like to watch how the Blessing Ceremony was done in the Philippines you can do so at the link: www.cigstudio.co.tv/holy-wine-ceremony-part-2-and-blessing-part-1)
I don’t know at how many places on this earth the live web cast could be received and how many members waited in vain but for those who did not it was surely a chance for reflection. We expected our True Parents to be there with us (on the screen) but remained without their visible presence. What do we do when the object of our hope and desire does not appear? We are challenged to look back on ourselves and to research our own soul: What kind of attitude do I have? Do I expect to receive something or am I here to give?
In the case of the internet transmission there are technical reasons and limitations why it has not been possible for all the many hundreds of places worldwide to receive the streaming at the same time but such limitations do not exist in the spiritual world. This means that the resources of support from the billions of absolute good spirits in the other world is freely available, not to speak of the presence of God’s power which is here for us. This point may be important for us to consider on today’s 9th anniversary of the ceremony for the liberation of the spiritual world.
Why are we not glowing with energy, full of strength and spirit, with a heart overflowing with love? Because we are not open enough to the highest realms of the spiritual world from where our True Parents draw the strength to stand on the frontline of the Providence in union with our Heavenly Father, carrying an incredible burden despite their advanced age.
By now we are each to stand strong as reborn and resurrected children of God who have received the special grace of amnesty connected with the given Cosmic level Blessing, right awake and full of conviction concerning the Will of God, free in our hearts to practice what we know to be true. In case one or the other among us does not feel in such a way, it is good to ask most sincerely: What stops me to live fully aligned with God in a spiritual situation of high noon without any shadows? Even though the individual answers to this questions may vary, the general situation is true for all of us: If we are not there where we should be internally, where we long to be deep inside, then it is not because of this or that person, because of such and such circumstances, but only because of me: Because I do not manage to recognize and to receive the help and support which is ready to be used by every human being.
On an external level there is great suffering in this world for reasons which have roots in the material world and in the fallen nature of men. These problems need to be overcome with the help of physical means which may take much time. But on the level of heart our pain can now be fully resolved in this new age of release and complete liberation -- of the peaceful Cosmic Sabbath of True Parents as it says in this year’s motto -- ultimately of each one of us.
What is necessary to enjoy this realm of inner freedom and heartistic liberation? Substantial changes of heart towards living completely and absolutely for the sake of others just as True Father and True Mother practice day by day. The time of religion, of believing in this or that doctrine is over, because the doors have been opened for each human being to understand and practice True Love. “God is Love” as the Bible says. The more we live a life of truly loving others the closer we are to the Heart of God.
One core task is to realize clearly what True Love is all about and how it can be practiced in the manifold situations we may meet. The more eager we are to find out the answers to this essential issue and the better we practice the given answers, the nearer we come to living in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth -- under the direct dominion of God.
Through the Divine Principle we know what is necessary for the ideal to be reached for many years already (in most cases) and we have loads of long speeches by our True Parents, telling us in detail and from all kinds of viewpoints what is necessary in order to establish Cheon Il Guk. Now we have even especially Hyung Jin Nim and In Jin Nim as two exemplary True Children, who are showing us clearly the way to go -- which attitude to have in order to bring God’s blessing into our daily lives.
To mention one example: We have heard a lot about Cain and Abel and still In Jin Nim managed to share profound insights into aspects of the Cain Abel relationship in her sermon on the 27th of last month. Personally I feel that if only all members of the Unification Movement could really practice the precious content of what In Jin Nim spoke about on that final Sunday in September, we would rise to a brand new spiritual and heartistic level.
What we need to be definitely aware is that fact that she, representing the motherly heart of God, Hyung Jin Nim, or other profoundly dedicated brothers and sisters are not just teaching something but it is our Heavenly Father who is speaking through them, giving us the answers we need at this time, hoping to reach the souls of His children through such pure channels by moving our hearts to come closer to Him. Unless we recognize the work of God and the efforts of Heaven to guide us in very concrete terms we will not make much progress on our respective path of coming back into the embrace of our loving Eternal Parent.
The road has been opened up, the way is free for everybody, but walking the course, growing one’s ability to love, living for the sake of others in order to make them happy with the desire to establish a culture centered on heart, all these things lie in the hands, in the heart of each one of us. May we all recognize this clearly and act accordingly,
Sincerely yours, Nikolaus