The Words of the Johnson Family
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The Words of the Johnson Family |
To meet the needs of home church and to be able to encompass a much wider variety of persons in our church's activities, the Education Department in New York began to develop a guest seminar program last spring, under the guidance of Rev. Ken Sudo, who was subsequently made director of national education in the Unification Church of America. Five lectures give an overview of the Divine Principle. Guests then are then invited to attend the 7-day evening seminar (covering the contents of a full- time weekend workshop), a 21-day evening seminar (covering the contents of a 7-day full-time workshop), and a 40-day evening seminar (covering the contents of a 21-day full-time workshop).
This article is composed of interviews with Rev. Sudo and three members on his staff, describing the background of these programs, followed by interviews with some of those who have been attending this part-time educational program. Their testimonies of why they were attracted to the Principle give many interesting insights to the way God is working now.
To drop one's activities and attend workshops full time is very good for those who are able to do so, but because of other responsibilities, many people cannot make time. For such people, the force of attachment is bigger than the force of their desire to go. Recently, we began to make a way for people to finish their Principle education part-time, without leaving their family or responsibilities. This system will be the mainstream of education for new people, with the camp system used only for those who are joining as full-time members. For those who cannot join as live- in, or core, members, the camp system is not appropriate. Then, as people's desire becomes greater than their attachment, they can choose to quit their jobs and join the full-time education system; or they can continue to study on a part- time basis. So these two systems are complementary, like day school and night school, each helping the other reach people.
Our idea is to provide people with a chance to develop their desire without cutting their attachment. For desire to develop, people must understand more. Therefore, instead of asking people to go somewhere, we can provide an environment for them: we can bring the lecture system and the family experience to them.
At the Down Home Inn (on the first floor of the World Mission Center) they can have some dinner, share in a family atmosphere, and listen to an introductory lecture. Basically, when they first arrive, they know they are coming to listen to something about the Unification Church teachings, so they are happy to hear a lecture. After the introductory talk, they can decide whether to go to the full-time camp program or continue here.
This program is especially appropriate for home church activities. People we meet in home church, like housewives, doctors, teachers, various professionals, have more social responsibilities; also they have already made some foundation through home church and thus can come to listen to the contents of Divine Principle. For them, it is a much easier system. Then, as their desire grows, some can join the full-time schedule of activities, and others can continue as home members, still quite deeply connected with our movement.
Many people have attended our programs from home church areas, but it's not so easy to come to the Down Home Inn from New Jersey, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx or other outlying areas. Therefore, this system of education will be taken to the boroughs, as home church activities progress and expand.
The first 120-day leadership workshop in New York started about a year ago, and it included an intensive witnessing schedule. In the beginning, we met people, invited them to the Down Home Inn for an evening program of music and an introductory lecture, and then tried to get them to come to the camp for a weekend workshop. The approach was to try to find someone who could come on the spur of the moment, such as travelers or backpackers. Someone who could join very quickly. Through this kind of witnessing, in a 60-day period, we were able to bring about 400 guests; of those about one percent joined.
Father had given us the 1-1-1 goal, which meant that we had to bring four spiritual children during the 120 days. Desperate to discover how to fulfill Father's goal, we felt we had to try to find people who were searching for God. We felt we had to change our whole approach, to specialize our efforts somehow. One person suggested using book tables; several suggested using charts; others wanted to make a survey. So we developed a trinity of witnessing tools: book table, survey and charts. None of the ideas is uniquely new, but they converged when we made a concerted effort to bring spiritual children.
Using Father's picture and the Divine Principle book made it immediately visible that we are Moonies and gave us a lightning-rod spirit. Negative people would come and say bad things, perhaps knock over the table or cause a scene. But when they left, usually some very good people would come. We observed that without the persecution, the blessings could not come; the persecution was even very cleansing and purifying, inspiring us to "Be a Proud Moonie," in Col. Pak's words. It felt very liberating.
The survey helps us discern whether a person is prepared or not; it is designed to zero in on original-minded persons.
Conscientious people are attracted to dinner and entertainment, meeting friendly people, listening to discussions about an ideal world. This kind of person comes out of joy and happiness, attracted to love and fellowship. But through the survey, we could meet original-minded persons actively searching for truth, without going through a lot of small talk.
In other words, we are making the gate wider, for people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, the whole Down Home Inn and guest seminar program is arranged to accommodate the original- minded people. If they cannot go to camp, we'll bring the camp to them!
After the first 120-day workshop. Rev. Reiner Vincenz reported to Father, showing him photographs of our tables, surveys and charts. The difference in results was so dramatic (as many as ten percent of the people were attended the program were joining), that Father gave his blessing to the idea of book tables, dubbing them "corner tables."
This is a kind of renewal of the old style of witnessing used many years ago, through which many early European, Japanese and American members had joined. It seems that the American movement had to pass through a certain historical period of sacrifice or denial in order to qualify for later blessings, in order to be able to receive home church.
1972 through 1976 was the campaign era, when we were called upon to be very mobile, very sacrificial. We had to make Father's name a household word in America, regardless of the negativity that resulted. It seemed like we had to make up for 10 or 12 years of lost time, in order to raise the providence to the worldwide level. Father was pushed by God, and we were caught up in the whirlwind of the providence. To join in those years was an all-or-nothing proposition. "Come and join the family," we shouted, "we are on the go; join us now, there is no time to lose." Upon that foundation, Father was able to complete his public-speaking responsibilities.
We had to become like an army for God before we could settle down to become a family. We had to develop that discipline before we could receive home church. Now, it's a whole new age.
The guest seminars put more emphasis on teaching the Principle than the experience of the workshops, so our lectures are very meaty, so to speak. We are teaching a series of five introductory lectures: Creation, Fall of Man, Mission of the Messiah, Principles of Restoration, and a final one combining Last Days and Parallels of Human History. These five lectures are scheduled at consecutive hours of the day, so that someone can come in, have lunch, and hear an entire overview of the Divine Principle in a one-day seminar.
Because we are concentrating on the contents of Divine Principle itself, we witness directly about a new religious ideology and identify ourselves as members of the Unification Church and followers of Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Standing on a busy street corner of New York, with traffic going by and people rushing back and forth -- amid the dirt and noise, one good person stops. We begin to realize that their "preparation" is not something which we do; it has to be something they do.
Of course, we are living in an age in which God has made incredible preparation in the hearts of people. He could not have sent the messiah at this time if humanity in general and Western Christianity in particular did not have the seedbed to receive the messiah. So there must be a percentage of people today who are ready. I personally believe that if we were to go today on nationwide television and teach the Divine Principle, hundreds of thousands of people would flock to our doors.
In one speech, Father said that most of the people in the Unification Church are here because it's their destiny; others came because of a stroke of good fortune; without a lineage of good saints and sages pushing on this way, they just happened to meet the movement and receive the incredible blessing of becoming a part of it. In these cases the effort of the spiritual parent is essential. Any member who develops his heart according to the principles of heartistic relationship will have the power to move people, whether or not they were previously "prepared" to begin this way of life.
There is a certain type of person who lives in New York City who is different from those in rural areas. I am engaged to a woman who grew up here in Manhattan. Her spiritual father asked her if she felt that God was suffering. Here was a deeply religious dialogue in Central Park with a sensitive religious girl who was raised amid the skyscrapers and concrete. Maybe even because of growing up within this environment, native New York members seem to be a bit tougher, a bit more able to persevere through the internal and external trials that accompany this lifestyle.
To believe that religion should be pastoral is a gross generalization. Religions developed in rural areas and then came to the cities. Jesus taught in the countryside, Buddha started in the countryside; Mohammad and Confucius as well. Gradually they influenced rural areas, but many times the cities deteriorated before religion was able to influence the entire country.
Father's strategy is completely different: he goes right into the heart of the corrupted city, knowing that when he conquers the city, automatically the surrounding area will be conquered, because all social and cultural influences develop in the city and permeate the surrounding countryside.
The Down Home Inn (of which I am manager) is a very precious place. In a way it is very public; guests can come in and leave any time, and we can have a variety of activities going on at the same time. We use the back room to give introductory lectures, while someone else may be watching a videotape recording about our church. Somebody else can bring his home church guests here, just for tea or coffee, and talk in a heavenly environment. It's a place to meet brothers and sisters in a very informal way.
Members can be creative in the variety of ways they relate with guests. It's not designed just for young people, it's more comprehensive. It provides an opportunity for people who are hearing the Principle but who have not made a commitment to become involved with the church. They come and help by serving behind the refreshment counter, or doing different things.
We have our own Corner Table inside. Putting books and magazines here provides guests with something to study alone. It's very beautiful to see this. It's difficult to ask guests to study, because sometimes it's hard for them to study at their homes. Even our family members who live in the New Yorker sometimes use the Down Home Inn as a place to study.
Two or even three times as many people come here as the number who specifically attend lectures. Summer evenings usually bring 100 people here for the dinner program.
People often come the first time with a member, but many times they come back alone because they want to hear a particular lecture. Once they are hooked on the truth, they return for more and more. Members distribute flyers listing the times for lectures. A few people pick the flyer up off the sidewalk, without anyone giving it to them, and they come here. Others don't come the same day they received the flyer, but show up two or three weeks later. We have people walk in and ask, "You have lectures here?" Last week an Israeli girl and a young man from Egypt walked in, separately, right at dinner time. Both of them emphasized to me that they did not come for dinner, they came for a lecture!
In our heart, we are really desperate to see the people come here. We have a very free atmosphere here, and we aren't too pushy with people. They decide when they come and how long they are going to stay. We make it known that this is their place, and they can come here at any time.
We are located in a very unique place, 34th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. There are all kinds of people walking around this area of the city, and all kinds of people enter.
I had a very unusual experience with one young man who came here several months ago. When he first walked in, he told me he did not want to live any more. We talked with him for several hours, realizing that he was not ready to hear Principle very deeply but just needed friends. He would come just to have a cup of coffee when he felt like it. Gradually, he heard the Principle, but his strong Christian ideas made it very difficult for him to accept what he heard. Just this last Sunday evening, he happened to walk in when we were holding the home church banquet. I invited him to stay, and he was deeply touched. The next day he came back and said, "I feel like I really have a family, I feel like I am really loved." And he was almost crying.
We have a lot of truth to give to people, but what people really need is love; and we have lots of love to give. Love comes from caring, and it means being able to smile at people every time they come in. I don't necessarily have to say anything special -- just be here.
One evening somebody started yelling just when we were inviting guests to go inside the hotel for a formal lecture, and I knew that Satan was trying to distract everybody through this one person. So I took personal responsibility to go to him and ask, "Oh, what's the problem? Why don't we go over here to this booth and talk about it? You can tell me everything." While we were talking, the members invited the other guests out of the room to the lectures. I explained to the man that we respected his right to share his feelings, but also he had to respect us and our right in the Down Home Inn. He understood and did not return.
Because of our location, anybody can walk in off the street. Once ever, two months a bag lady walks in, very confidently, and explains that she has an appointment with Reverend Moon. Very kindly, I reply, "I'm sorry, but Reverend Sun Myung Moon isn't here today. He must not know about your appointment. What is your name?"
"My name is Mrs. Mao Tse Tung."
Because members come here from many departments, we don't necessarily know whether a person is a church member or a guest. One time a young woman came here who looked so much like a family member; she seemed so much at home that I naturally assumed she was a member. I ignored her and didn't say anything to her. Finally, after several hours, she came up to me and introduced herself as a guest. I was very embarrassed. We want our brothers and sisters to know that we take care of their guests and spiritual children.
What really moves my heart is to see the spiritual parents taking care of their guests in the Down Home Inn. I see their investment; they are loyally coming to take care of their spiritual child, spending many, many hours with them.
Sometimes the most heartbreaking experience for me is to have to close this place at 10:30 at night. There may yet be one spiritual parent with his spiritual child, still talking and sharing deeply at 10:30, not wanting to go home. To say, "It's time to go home;' is very hard, for I feel like it is really God, right there:'
My life was a very unusual life, because until I was 17, I was very disordered in my thinking. People said that someone my age should be having a good time, but I never felt like I should have a good time.
I never thought of God in a deep way like I learned in Divine Principle, but I thought of God as a father. Not having a father, one day I asked God to be my spiritual father and also to act as my physical father. So usually I would sit under a coconut tree and talk to God; I would let my whole heart out.
What is so funny about me and my family is that I am the clearest (light- skinned) person in my family. The others are completely dark, and I always had this feeling that I was destined for a different course. I did many things that no one in my family ever did, like becoming a boy scout. As soon as I heard that we must do our duty to God, I really knew that this was for me. I did not have such a strong understanding of who God is, but I always thought of Him as a superior being to me and I should try my best to serve Him. But I didn't know how I was going to go about it. I did know I wasn't going to do certain things that others do that cause pain, hurt or destruction.
I always read the Bible, and I always tried to understand deeper what the preacher was telling me. When I went to the church, I was always praying to God and asking many things. And after church at night, I would be on the streets with another brother and preach. When we came up to people who were drunk on the street, I would say, "You. You are doing something wrong. God doesn't like this; God loves you, He doesn't want you to do this kind of thing." I would be very direct. I got this directness from being a scout. Based on my whole love for scouting and on the pledge that I would do my duty to God and my country, I really believed this very strongly, and I put my whole heart into it and tried to develop my whole self.
Now that I look at it, I see that this is what Father is doing; he is teaching us a Principle, a way of life, that can really strengthen us, and we can one day take it into the world; then the whole world can be united. And this is what I was thinking of when I was a scout. All of this I've found in the Unification Church, but I'd never even heard of it before.
I came to America on June 29, 1981, in search of God. I prayed to God so much concerning coming to New York City, even though I'd heard so many bad things about it. When I prayed, I didn't know if God would allow me to come. But one day, when I was really down, this thought came to me, "My son, do not worry about New York City. You will be going."
And then one morning, I woke up and the radio was playing this song, "New York, New York, Get Up and Go!" I was really surprised.
When I came, I was so scared. I had heard so many things about how people brainwash you, and here I was in this big city. I came over to this place called Penn Station. Someone spoke to me and asked me what I thought about America.
I told him I wasn't from America, that I just arrived and really I didn't know, but that I thought America needed a new spiritual awakening.
And he said, "Oh, I think God brought us together?'
I had never heard anything about these Moon people. But for some reason I had a desire to speak to this person and tell this person about my whole life. What he said was so deep and so unusual that I became a little bit suspicious, because I had heard that Americans are very smart. He pointed over to this building and called it the World Mission Center. He offered to walk me over there and show me some literature. But I was a little suspicious.
I went back home, because I was going the other way, and I told my brother and friends that I had met someone from the Unification Church. They told me about brainwashing and such things.
One day I just told my brother, "I think I need a little brainwashing anyway, because this world is getting so mixed up, so confusing, that if my purpose in New York City is not clear to me, then anyway, I might as well go and get brainwashed."
I went to listen, and the one point which brought me here was about Unification bringing everyone together, from all nationalities, and teaching them about one unified family. The first time I heard the lecture, I thought, "Oh, no, now they are going to tell me that Reverend Moon is the messiah." I really knew in my heart that this is what they were going to tell me. But I had a really strong feeling that I can't leave now. So I stayed and listened, and for some reason, I accepted everything.
I thought I was just being crazy or stupid, because I am a Christian and everyone thinks that Jesus is coming on the clouds, and that everyone will see him. But then I heard this revelation about the fall of man, then history, and everything comes together so much. About John the Baptist being the Elijah who was to come . . . and then it hit me, that I should try my best on this. Now that I've discovered it, it means so much to me that I want to share it.
In Barbados I had written my autobiography, and I saw my life going around in a circle and coming back, based on one thing. When I tried to share the love that I had inside, I wanted to give it to people not in a way that would hurt them, but in a way they could freely take. But people didn't understand it, and I would always end up getting hurt. I wanted to give my love so purely, but their minds were distorted because of the fall, and they didn't understand me.
Always I thought that maybe God had a plan for me, maybe I'm someone special, with a special purpose. I think that my life has become a straight line, focused on something that God wants me to do. And Reverend Moon gives me a strong focal point to make sure my life goes straight. I want to inherit whatever it is, to the top, and then go to spirit world.
I once said that I cannot die until I become a True Christian. I say that very strongly, and I really mean it. Especially as Father once spoke of not wanting to start a Unification Church, but bring the Principles to Christianity.
My deep reason for leaving my country was that I really wanted to be able to make my own decisions.
At home in Venezuela, there was too much protection from my family, too much attention and too much care. At 22, I wanted to find out what it was like to relate to others and to find freedom -- not to do crazy things, because I am not a crazy person -- but to think, study and see from a perspective other than my family and my culture.
I was raised a Catholic, but ever since I can remember, I was searching. The feeling I had is that God is everywhere and God has a message for everyone. Even through a small rural church or in conversation with another person, God could speak His message. So I went everywhere, but neither my friend nor I could really find the meaning of salvation; we really couldn't feel like we were "saved:" Still I found good things present in all the churches. Everywhere I went I could see their faith, especially among the evangelicals. They would pray, and we could feel their energy. But when I asked what they meant, their explanation didn't satisfy me, and I couldn't go farther in studies with them.
Two years ago, when I first came to New York 1 was so alone. I couldn't speak English, and I prayed, "It's just me and You, God so I rely on You to show me what to do here." I would write letters to God when I was lonely, and pray. In prayer I would practice my English with God. In America, they were all too busy to talk English with me, so I talked English with God.
In the summer of 1981 I came to the shopping area on 34th Street, and I saw literature tables, and I heard these people shouting and preaching about God. I passed without stopping, and when I saw the second table, I thought they were very brave. Others were shouting and persecuting them. Then I thought, "Well, why not? Here in New York they offer you sex on the street, drugs on the street, many, many things offered on the street, so why not something about God?"
The young man was teaching the fall of man. He explained the meaning of the two trees, that the serpent was an angel, and I thought it was logical. "The fruit is love," he said. And he continued to explain the motivation of the fall. "How do you think the archangel felt?" the lecturer asked.
"He was jealous!" I answered.
The lecturer was very surprised, and looked at me. He thought I was someone from the church, just acting like a shopper who was stopping to listen. What he said was simply logical. He came to speak to me and invited me to lecture, but already I had a ticket to return to Venezuela to visit my family. After a month, I came back to New York and to school, and then I could come for a lecture finally. I attended for 2 evenings, 7 evenings, and 21 evenings, and I felt I was living in two worlds. I compare it to being in a room with a little light, and then going into a brighter room. When you go back into your own little room, it is dark and you can't see anything! Here it was so exciting and bright, and I could see and study so much through the lectures. I prayed to God to guide me whether I should continue with college, but it just seemed darker and confusing to be there, so I didn't continue. But here, there is so much hope and so many things to do.
Shortly after graduating from junior high school, I went to Tokyo and got a job. I became a public worker, and in those days I met a famous poet in Tokyo, who advised me to go to college. I obeyed her advice. In that school I got so bored, and I talked to her about my feelings. She advised me to leave Japan; she even gave me some money, and I went to Madrid, crossing the whole continent, Russia and Europe, all by train. Like Dr. Zhivago.
I went to Madrid with the purpose of studying Spanish, but I missed registering by one day, and I came to New York instead. Shortly after I arrived, I was hanging around on the campus of New York University with a Swedish acquaintance. We needed help in registering, and the person we asked was from the CARP center. She invited us to come over. At that time I was almost indifferent to religious things, but in that center I found many young people who are a little different from others. That's why I decided to stay with them.
I just don't know what the purpose of my life is yet, but recently I came to feel very happy when I love people, when I serve people. I think it is because I listened to Principle. I have been to several workshops, and now I am staying with brothers and sisters in the CARP center. But sometimes I feel dejected, honestly, because I can't have any time to be alone. Sometimes I feel restless and nervous, being around people so much of the time.
I write poetry; that's why I feel I need to be alone, but this church is very systematized. I feel pulled between doing activities with brothers and sisters, but wanting to write poetry. I write Haiku. I used to write modern, long poetry, which was concerned about the nothingness of life. When I was 13, I started writing that kind of poetry. (Reminded that "nothingness" was part of the corruption of the West, not Japan, Masaya said, "Unfortunately, I was born with such feelings. There is no way to cure such feelings.")
Recently I came to write about more things which are valuable for my life, and more beautiful things:
laughing – laughing
and
then
became a tulip.
On this moonlit night
of what do
they think
these trees and rocks?
A cold sunset
on the cliff –
me
without wings.
Sometimes I feel very dejected when I write, but lately I discovered I can be happy even when I am writing poetry.
Just recently I came to understand about Principle, and about God a little bit, and I'm planning to continue to study Principle more. One thing I am realizing is about leadership. Inside, each person should feel like a leader of everyone, but this should not come from a haughty feeling. We should have the feeling of doing things voluntarily.
I wasn't a religious person at all, even though I had been raised in a very religious way. My parents are very faithful Roman Catholics and go to church everyday. I went to Catholic schools for 12 years. But when I was 17 I moved to New York.
For a couple of years I went to church every Sunday, but I realized I had absolutely no connection other than a sense of duty. I stopped attending and never even thought about religion until I started coming to the Unification Church.
I had developed a very individualistic philosophy, because I am a very determined, independent person. My idea was whatever you get out of your life is what you invest into it; that it is really up to you to make something out of your life. You can do anything you want. But I really didn't have so much concern about doing anything for anybody else, although my whole family was very concerned about others.
After studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology, I went on to get a degree from Columbia University, and then on to graduate school. During that time I worked to support myself, so it was necessary to become very single-minded to do that.
I never really clarified my goal even to myself. I think it was to "be somebody" or somehow find myself. When I first got out of school I worked as a designer for sportswear, but the people were very cruel to the seamstresses, who couldn't talk back to them, and I just despised working there. So I went back to school, not really knowing why.
I took a career-change course on "What do I want to do with my life," and spent three months intensively thinking on this topic. To start the course I wrote my autobiography. When you place your life in front of you, you can find patterns in it which you can draw out and develop. I came up with all kinds of goals and five-year plans, but somehow I never really got started. My plan was to renovate houses. It combined my love of designing with the possibility of going into business for myself and have an independent income.
Last year at this time, I was shopping at Macy's late one Saturday afternoon, and I was in a rush. This young German stopped me. Normally I would never stop for anybody on the street, but I stopped. I decided it was okay to talk with him because he was nicely dressed with a white shirt, and he was a foreigner. I refused his invitation to the lecture, because I had to go shopping, but he came along with me. We talked very easily together, and he walked me to the Down Home Inn, where we talked for a couple of hours.
Immediately I felt that there was some missing spiritual link in my life, like a link with God. I hadn't thought much about God, but I was at a point in my life where something had to change. The first thing that really moved me was when he talked about God in terms of emotions. I thought that God just sat up there on a throne, somehow unrelated to the world. That God really suffers because of what happens in the world touched me deeply. It seemed like my entire experience was being drawn in. He was presenting me with some kind of total vision of the world, a cohesive picture of what was going on, for which there was some kind of solution. All this made sense to me based on my experience.
When I found it was the Moonies, I didn't want to have anything to do with it, but I met him again because I trusted him. He was really patient and invested a lot in me on a one-to-one basis. I met him after work and talked to him individually for a couple of months, and he taught me the Principle himself. Afterwards, I went to the evening guest seminars. I knew very soon that this would change my life, and that this was important, but given my work schedule, I never was able to attend for seven days straight, and I had no interest in going to camp. I wasn't inclined at all to go to a workshop with lots of people singing.
The one area of my life which I did not develop so well was personal relationships. I was good at setting a specific goal and accomplishing specific things, but less able to relate to people. Always I felt this lack in my life, but not until I heard the Principle did I realize how "handicapped" I was in that way. That's the part of my life which has already started to change.
In general, I am a very competent person, always choosing my own direction. But now I feel like God can lead me in the direction where I can apply my natural abilities, and where I can be the of the most value to Him and to the whole purpose of doing something for this world.
It was six months before I decided to move into a center, and even then I kept my job for two more months. I lived a very structured life. When I give my testimony, I know one thing for sure, that it gives a lot of hope to brothers and sisters that they can witness to people like me.
I've lived here a long time, most of my adult life. I studied the writings of the Rosicrucians, Buddhism, Rama Krishna and other gurus, in addition to astrology, and especially theosophy and the teachings of Madame Blavatsky, who was the first to teach reincarnation in the Western world. Even before turning to Eastern teachings,
I spent long hours in the library studying the German, Russian and English philosophers. It made me more tolerant towards people, and set me to thinking more deeply about life.
My father immigrated from Italy. I was raised a Catholic, but married into the Jewish faith. I loved all religions and searched into many. I find them all beautiful. They all have a great message to bring to mankind, of truth, and love and faith, and sharing God's wondrous world.
I have had revelations of Jesus. He was glorious and glowing, like a light in human form. He spoke to me saying, "There is great love in the world. Keep on your present path, and you will find it."
I feel all religions are really interwoven, but a person must have the receptivity to know and really feel this. I feel Christianity is incomplete. I'm still reading to find how the East is revealing some things, while through the West God is revealing completely different things. I am happy to find the Moonies. I feel there is a lot of love here, and I see the young people searching to do good for the world. I've met members before on the street and seen Reverend Moon on television. Now I understand Catholicism better, and I am here to learn more about his teachings.
A serious man, an engineer studying film making in New York, Waldo warns the interviewer from the start that not everything he has to say about the Unification Church is favorable. "Is there something about the Principles which you do not like?" the interviewer asked.
"Oh, no, the Principles are beautiful, of course; it is the teaching style which I do not completely agree with. It is not necessary to put down the work of Jesus to teach your Principle."
He likes the principle of universal brotherhood which we teach, but feels is not a new idea. His observation is that we are the only ones really tackling the problem through our efforts. He sees the persecution which the Unification Church gets as mainly a response to the personality of Reverend Moon and his involvement in business. "Business is a only a kind of cheating," he says, explaining that the world of religion and the world of business are completely separate and cannot be united because the very inside psychology of business is corruption. And yet he admits it is only by the use of very much money that it is possible for us to have the New Yorker and to be there for us to meet him.
We asked him if his colleagues knew he was spending his time with the Unification Church, and he immediately said, "Of course! But they know how I am. I am not one to be swayed by such things."
His Christian roots are very deep. His wife is Catholic, and he is Methodist, but in India the distinctions are not stressed as much as in the United States.
While we are interviewing Waldo, he is asking questions and taking notes on the testimony of a brother who will play the guitar for him the next day during a film making session at the school.
"Tell them about your music and tell them about yourself," Waldo urges emphatically. "Tell them you are with the Unification Church, and that you are inspired by studying this new ideology."
"You want me to say that for the filming?" asks our new brother.
"Yes, of course. I want you to tell them."
I came from Egypt seven months ago; I had finished my college, but I wanted to take some special courses in street theater. In street theater, we go to the people wherever they are, to parks, schools, cultural centers. The idea is to perform with people more directly, so it is partly educational. It needs to have some philosophy or especially new ideas to tell people, so it will become more powerful.
The day I met the family was really unique for me. Never do I stop to talk with anybody on the street. What captivated me was the harmony and the movement, the kind of beauty they were making there while street preaching. They were standing kind of in a circle, two by two, moving in a beautiful way, and I stopped to look at it. One by one, they started teaching. One sister saw me watching and came to talk to me about the ideal society, ideal family. Actually, that's my dream all my life, to find the ideal life.
My background is Islam. Because I couldn't find the whole answer in that religious life, I started searching in history, civilization, in humanistic sciences, psychology and social sciences. I have some kind of ideals, but they were not clear in my mind. When she talked to me I felt something very special.
Even back in Egypt I had heard that there are many different groups and religions in New York, many directions to follow. So I wouldn't just go with some group. But I realized these young people were serious, and when we spoke, I knew that they believed what they are doing. So I felt there was something good behind it.
That same evening, I came to the Down Home Inn and heard my first lecture. I like history a lot, and when I heard how history repeats itself, it was very interesting. I came back the next evening, since I worked during the day. The following week, I attended the full seven evenings. I felt there was something very important about the lectures I heard, so my thoughts and feelings were really pushing me to continue. I felt that there was something really big behind all this. I thought that I had to understand it deeply. I had heard many different philosophies, so words themselves don't strike me; words alone cannot stop me in my life. But the Principle and the life they live . . . I started watching: do they really believe what they teach? do they really live what they teach? I watched and saw that these people were really living the Principle, and I saw that this is the ideal. It was so great, so beautiful to me. If that ideal could become reality, nothing would be more important in life. So I had to continue. Then I had to see how I could find myself in that ideal. So I continued for 21 days. Still, I was working.
This was a very good experience for me, and very difficult also. Life became "outside" and "inside" for me. I called it like this right away. Inside was the ideal society, the Principle way of life, and outside was the world. Outside, it was feeling of "I couldn't take it no more." There was this struggle in me at that time. People here were taking care of each other, loving each other, but I had to discover that it wasn't just in a humanistic sense that people were taking care of each other. It had to be deeper than that, because this is the plan for life, life after death and the spirit world, extending from where mankind came from in the beginning to where mankind is going. I was able to understand so much that I couldn't find in religions or philosophies, this explanation about life and history. I asked myself, since this is the most important thing now, why am I struggling?
After the 21 days were over, I knew that 40 evenings were coming up. I decided I had enough struggling between "inside" and "outside:' so I decided to move in and live this life. I have had spiritual experiences through prayer. Prayer here is very sincere and very honest. I used to pray five times a day, according to the Muslim tradition, but I did not feel anything. Of course, I felt I was doing it for God, but here I can connect my heart and create a relationship with God. I had this experience during the three hours of prayer on the last day of the 21 days. It was a really tearful prayer. After that, I thought, "This is it! This is God, this is the Principle. This is my life!"