The Words of the Downward Family
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The Words of the Downward Family |
Sun
Myung Moon and Hyung Jin Moon, May 15, 2011
Dear brothers and sisters,
I would like to continue my reflections on a 'Movement in Crisis' and how we can move forward and overcome the problems and difficulties currently facing us. As we know, our movement is a microcosm of the world and of human history itself, and therefore, of the events that are taking place on the world stage now, and that have also occurred throughout history. Our mission is to overcome all these problems and those things which have plagued the human family since the fall of Adam and Eve, including, the loss of the Original True Family and the legacy it should have established eternally.
The answer to these problems lies in understanding God's original ideal of creation and the purpose for which He created. Through a course of absolute faith, love and obedience, God Himself, sacrificing and investing with all his heart, soul, mind and energy, strove to create His object of love, ultimately, an absolute family, a true family. In order to accomplish that, God gave man, whom God desired to be a co-creator with Him, a portion of responsibility.
"Do not have sex, whilst you are still in the Indirect Dominion". This was not only a matter of obedience to God but also for Adam and Eve as brother and sister to have the right heart of love and respect for each other during this growing period. They were to manifest true sibling love as a foundation for conjugal and parental love and love each other as God loved them. Adam and Eve should have cared for each other and loved each other believing that they must also protect each other's purity as God had asked them to.
Adam should have scolded Lucifer when he saw that he was getting too close to his sister. Eve should have rebuffed Lucifer's advances and sought out her brother's help. Had they cared for and loved each other by taking God's commandment seriously, Lucifer would not have been able to invade. Therefore the environment God had created and that Adam and Eve should have perfected through true love was defiled. The give and take of absolute love God desired within the four position foundation was lost, and an unrighteous self-centered four position foundation centering on Satan was established.
God's children had now become the servants of an Archangel, a servant of a servant.
Therefore, I would like to discuss how we can re-create that Environmental Kingdom where through give and take as siblings, we can create a culture and environment of heart, and ultimately the Kingdom of Heaven which is a kingdom where true love is practiced. Culture is created most significantly by what we believe and understand to be true and how we then practice that, making our thought and understanding substantial reality. Our original nature naturally aspires to creating a culture of heart. Therefore at the center of such a culture, would be, the practice of true love, living for the sake of others as demonstrated by God in His act of Creation. Similarly through Father's words and his substantial model course (living the word), we can understand how to build the Kingdom of Heaven. Each one of us is created as an individual truth body with our own personality, character and heart. Each one of us, in our own relationship with God, is to fulfill our own portion of responsibility by our own free will and therefore take ownership of our lives and the results of what we do or don't do.
I would like to share with you a very important excerpt from the Divine Principle. P.455 under the heading, 'The Renaissance'
"The principle of creation tells us that man was created to become perfect by carrying out by his free will, his own portion of responsibility, in which process even God couldn't intervene. Therefore it is man's original nature to pursue freedom. It is from man's original nature that he would pursue the independence of his personality by carrying out his own portion of responsibility with his free will and thus by becoming one with God and perfecting his individuality."
The next paragraph in the same section is also very significant.
"Man was created as a man of perfected individuality to know God's will through his intelligence and reason and to live in accordance with it, even though he might not receive any revelation from God. Therefore it is man's original nature to follow and develop his intelligence and reason."
Therefore each one of us needs to clearly understand the Divine Principle and Father's words expressed in his many sermons, speeches and the guidance he has given over a lifetime. Father's words are the Completed Testament Word which we may also refer to as Godism or Headwing ideology. We need to clearly understand Father's teaching and take ownership of this understanding and apply it in our own lives as expressed in the Divine Principle quote above. This is the same as Adam and Eve incarnating the word.
There is huge energy and empowerment that comes through people having give and take in a free and open environment. When we can discuss and determine our future by our own decisions and actions then we can truly be liberated. We need to create that environment and culture, otherwise, we won't actually be building the Kingdom of Heaven, they are synonymous. Instead we will just continue to maintain a two dimensional, linear, leader-centered and blinkered movement, not listening to its membership or the people we are trying to attract and involve in our various activities and affiliations. We will have more in common with a totalitarian state, than God's ideal. Remember, God was breaking down historical absolutism and absolute monarchism during the time leading up to and during the 400 year preparation period for the Lord of the Second Advent.
People won't be attracted to something which doesn't demonstrate and practice the values and principles it teaches, especially in respect to and for human relationships that one would hope to find in an ideal society. This is the reality we are facing in our movement. Even though we have a wonderful teaching and wonderful True Parents, why would anyone want to share their lives with us when we haven't created that culture of heart and are not going to whilst our actions and even our thinking are not in line with that ideal. As I shared previously, Father announced in 1981 the end of the leader centered-movement and the beginning of the member-centered movement, where we live by give and take of love, not following commands. (Historical Children's Day speech Oct. 1981)
"Today I am declaring a new beginning: the leader-centered movement is over, and the member-centered movement is going to begin. Why should it be like that? If the head of the family thinks only about himself, the family is unhappy. Only if he worries about the whole family can they be successful and happy together.
The Unification Church is one family. I am concerned and worried about each one of you, and you should be concerned with each other as brothers and sisters, and together come to parents. What we need now is an environmental Kingdom of Heaven. If you only move in one direction, that is no good. You must move in 360 degrees, in all directions.
Our ultimate goal is Canaan. While we are marching toward Canaan, our supreme duty is to follow orders, but once we enter Canaan we don't live by commands but by love. This is that time. We are arriving now, and we must live in a God-like way. The second three seven-year courses have been announced. In the first 21 years we marched toward Canaan, and in these 21 years we shall live by love.
During the exodus it is a virtue to focus on following the leader, but when you enter Canaan you live by the give and take with brothers and sisters. From today on our membership around the world shall perfect that way of life. Even if I am not here, it should not matter. You already know the secret of going to heaven-loving each other."
Could that not be any clearer, does Father's direction not make it abundantly clear what we should be striving for and trying to attain as of thirty years ago. Yet we still have a movement where leaders continue to dictate to brothers and sisters what to do, no matter how nicely they may package it. This stifles give and take, stifles our role as co-creators, and therefore stifles God's bid to establish His environmental kingdom.
That is why Father stated, that the first commandment on earth is to love people, as I mentioned in my previous letter.
** "If you are one with God you must love Cain. If you stand in a position of receiving God's love, just as you love God with all your heart, soul and mind you must love your tribe, people and nation. This is the first commandment on earth. It is a commandment not of Heaven but of God's Kingdom on earth. The commandment of God's Kingdom in Heaven is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. However the first commandment of His Kingdom on Earth is to love our nation and race with all our soul, heart and mind..." Cheon Seong Gyeong P.717 RHS 3.5 (1970/8/29) Note the date of this quote, 1970, that is 41 years ago!
So let's use this statement now, as our base point, our primary mandate, commandment. All other laws and directions are secondary and subject to this primary mandate. Now suddenly we have a very different understanding, hence spirit and culture that can develop. Now the standard and blueprint for our life is to love and serve people before anything else. Everything is measured from that standard and practice. There is no hiding behind, 'unite with the central figure', 'this is God's Will'. Foremost, we are bound to follow our conscience as our 'first teacher', and practice Father's teaching, as explained in the previous quote above **.
Here is, I believe, the most profound definition of God's Will:
There is no real substance at the moment. Then, what is the real substance? It is the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification that will come. It signifies the completion of the four position foundation. What is God's ideal of creation? It is the completion of God's will. What is God's will then? It is the completion of God's ideal of creation. What is the completion of the ideal of creation? It means completing the four position foundation. What does it mean by completing the four position foundation? In the completed four position foundation, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters are all united. And then, keeping in time with God, they know how to sing and dance together with Him. That is the completion of God's will. CSG. p. 2362 LHS.(1992/7/1)
Let's continue our discussion on the centrality of sibling love in achieving God's ideal.
I would like to share a number of quotes, pertaining to Father's teaching on the centrality of sibling love for the realization of God's Ideal. The following quotes for me, were very revelationary, and I believe, require serious reflection.
Only when we embrace the world and love all people with sibling love, will we join everything together in an ideal sphere of love; when that occurs, no mishap will severely shock us. Only then will all the substance of God's thought finally bear fruit. God's ideal of children unites and bears fruit there: the fruit of children's love, the fruit of siblings' love, the fruit of the love of husband and wife and the fruit of parents' love. When the plan that the incorporeal God had at the time of Creation is made substantial, upper and lower, front and rear and left and right will be merged with Him. CSG, p.374 Last Para. LHS. (1992/11/4)
Frankly the weakness and failing of our church, is this point, we have overemphasized vertical relationships to the detriment if not absence of horizontal relationships, therefore failing to secure an environmental kingdom that can nurture, protect and raise up sons and daughters to God.
From another speech Father stated,
Through brothers and sisters a nation arises and all humankind arises. The relationship of brothers and sisters signifies front and back, a flat surface, but when flesh is added a sphere is formed. So it is brothers and sisters and the people of the nation who form the sphere. Brothers and sisters expand to become a people. The love of siblings is connected with the love for the world. A family where many brothers and sisters are growing up is like a model to embrace all people of the world and to create an ideal Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven. Hence brothers and sisters expand in number. CSG, p.374 2nd Para. RHS(1992/10/1)
That is profound! Let's continue.
Love Between Siblings (CSG. p.1075-76 RHS last paragraph)
The heart of parents desires that children love each other more than they love the parents. Even if you cannot take care of your parents, if you say "Mum, please wait. I'll take care of my younger brother first," your parents will say, "My boy! Oh he will grow up to be a good man." Isn't that right? (1975/5/1)
The person who is willing to love his brother more than his parents will live eternally in heaven. Those who cannot love their brother as they would their parents are not included in this place. The source of this principle, when understood is simple. Members were incapable of loving one another because they did not know this until now. The question is whether our members can unite among themselves. If you stand in a position where you cannot fulfill your filial duty to True Parents, you should offer those things that you wanted to devote to them to the members instead. Then Heaven can accept this offering as something greater than your filial devotion to True Parents. Such a person will surely be blessed. (78-41, 1975.5.1)
The path to heaven is opened by loving the members in the same way that you love God. You are trying to follow me, yet, with that same heart, you should strive to go together with your siblings. In this respect, we can conclude that the one who teaches the highest, quickest, and best way to go to heaven is neither God nor me but your siblings. The one who exerts himself with love greater than parental or conjugal love becomes the supreme subject being of love who then searches for his object partner. (66-125, 1973.4.18)
Again, look at the dates of these quotes.
From these quotes it is clear that the Kingdom of Heaven is born out of the relationships of brothers and sisters and having the heart to love each other more than we love our parents. Let's make this understanding a new paradigm for each of us to aspire to.
'Cheon Il Guk Is In The Midst Of You'.
As Jesus said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is in the midst of you". In the midst, meaning, in our relationships as brothers and sisters, as people. To the extent that we love each other and love our tribe, nation and world determines whether the Kingdom of Heaven is built. That is why Jesus said, 'Love one another as I have loved you.' 'People will know you are my disciples by your love for one another.' 'As you do to the least of these so you do to me.' This was the beginning of the growth stage.
Similarly, if we want to establish a CIG nation and world, then firstly, CIG must be in the midst of us. If it isn't, how can we create it in the nation and the world; because we just proclaim it? John the Baptist and Jesus both said, "Repent the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Was it? We know the Kingdom begins with a true family. Are we a true family as a movement? Do we have those types of relationships that Father spoke of above? Are we substantially creating a culture of heart, through true give and take as brothers and sisters, according to Father's words and the first commandment on earth being to love people. Loving God does not create a culture of heart. It has to manifest substantially on earth in human relationships of love, otherwise it is just like thoughts in your head that will only become substantial through action. For this you need a physical body as explained in the principle of creation and the principles of re-creation. Let's read another excerpt from Divine Principle from the chapter on Resurrection, P. 173 2nd paragraph.
"Second, according to the principle of creation, man, who was created as part of God's portion of responsibility, was made to be perfected by believing in God's word and practicing them, as his own portion of responsibility. Therefore, in carrying out the providence of resurrection, there must be 'words' from God for the sake of the providence, which is God's portion of responsibility. Only by believing in and practicing these words, as man's own portion of responsibility, is God's will accomplished.
Third, in light of the principle of creation, the spirit man was made to grow and become perfect only through the physical body. Thus, the resurrection of the spirit man, according to the providence of restoration, is only to be accomplished through physical life on earth."
This signifies the importance of our physical life and actions whilst on earth and that re-creation occurs not in worship or even workshops but in physical human give and take centered on God's word. Cheon Il Guk is in the midst of you. There is a famous quote of Fathers where he says, "Let us build the Kingdom of Heaven with our own hands."
Here's an interesting anecdote I heard from a UTS seminarian. Father asked this particular class of students, what is the most important thing about being at the Seminary? Naturally their minds would have raced thinking of things of great providential significance and the knowledge they had gained there and so on. However, Father said that the most important thing about being there, was making friends. Surprise! Again it comes back to relationships. Even practically, who are the people you will accomplish and do the most things with? Those people you are closest in heart to. Yes, make friends. When you go to a workshop, the Original Divine Principle workshop, make friends and develop old friendships. At the end of the day, these are our brothers and sisters who we can have an eternal relationship with. It is sad if we don't take that opportunity to share heart and love together. Similarly with your spouses and children, family, neighbors, kith and kin. Love is now. Love is what you are putting in the bank now to enjoy when you are in the spirit world. It's a good 'retirement plan'. Just to clarify the above points with Father's words:
I would like to conclude this part of my reflection with these words of Father:
The time has come for you to join the original family of Adam worldwide. All the people in the world must perfect themselves on the family level. What must be done to reach perfection? Your families must be the ones who restore the fallen families through atonement offerings. This has to be achieved by each and every family worldwide, making an effort through the Family Federation. Perfection has to be achieved by Adam and Eve. God cannot do it for them. True Parents cannot do it for them. The reason that the Family Federation exists is to allow you to perfect yourselves through your own efforts. This has to be a worldwide organization. You are able to go beyond the fallen world and the lineage of Adam through the Family Federation...." CSG. P. 2362 RHS. (1995/10/30)
Lastly I want to share about Tribal Messiahship and the mission we have in terms of hometown and the significance of the emergence of the Family Federation.
Until that day, you must fulfill your responsibility by giving your utmost effort. I am handing down to you the supreme gift, the result of 10,000 years of faith, and the fruit of all the pioneering that God has done for billions of years since the creation of the world, If you inherit this completely, you will be able to honor the authority of the blood lineage established through the Unification Church, which you can be proud of throughout the whole universe and in the heavenly world. You should know that there is nothing more righteous or valuable than this. I ask you to become people who can go directly to the world of peace with that value. You should know that with your returning to hometown, the unification of a new nation will arise. Amen! (1992.1.26. Headquarters Church)
Father stated last year that the main responsibilities that he gave us were, Hometown and Tribal Messiahship. (Hometown being inclusive of Home church) These are responsibilities that are for us to own, determine and fulfill regardless of what else the church may decide to undertake and conversely what we may decide to support. These are our holy and eternal responsibilities.
I would like to share a number of quotes on home church from when Father was focused on this providence from the late seventies and throughout the eighties. I believe that similarly, these quotes apply to Tribal Messiahship and Hometown as well.
This year's motto is "Home Church is My Kingdom of Heaven." As I already said, in the past two years home church was not that very near or personal to you. So far, you may have thought of home church as a kind of witnessing technique, or an innovation of the Unification Church. But it is the heavenly way. The home church is your personal affair; it doesn't belong to anyone else. It is your personal matter on earth and in heaven, not the Unification Church's.
It is not a witnessing technique; it is our personal matter not the Unification Church's. So too, this is true of Tribal Messiahship. This is very important for us to understand from the point of view of our 'ownership' and fulfilling our responsibility (which even God cannot intervene) as quoted above *.
God will recognize home church as the foundation through which you serve as filial children, as patriots and even as saints. God will recognize as a saint the person who accomplishes this. A saint is a person who lives on the world level, but God can recognize you as such on the foundation of home church.
Home church was announced in America rather than in Korea. How was that possible? In New York and in this country as a whole, you can find different races living in 360 homes. There is no other country like this. If all the 360 homes oppose you, it means that not just an individual or a family, or even a nation is opposing you, but many nations and races. In America, therefore, it is possible to go through the worldwide level of indemnity. After winning in New York, we will concentrate our efforts in Washington, Philadelphia, Boston, etc., and it will become easier and easier. For this reason, we cannot go to heaven without having home church.
After Jesus gave the keys to heaven to Peter, did Peter ascend to heaven, or did he go to the cross? What should Peter have done? We know that he should have gone to heaven by opening the door of home church on the dispensational level of that time, which was the tribal level. Then the foundation of the Kingdom of Heaven could have been laid. But now we are starting home church on the world level, which is much more difficult. Peter would have secured the environment through home church, and thereafter organized twelve tribes. Jesus had indicated that whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven; likewise, unless we realize the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, the Kingdom of Heaven in spirit world will not come about either.
When I do come back, will I return to the Unification Church boundary, or to the home church? The Church is like an office for the families and the society, but the home church is where the parents and children can live, and where God can dwell.
Similarly, Hometown is where the parents and children can live, and where God can dwell. This statement is important as it emphasizes that the goal of history is not religion nor a church but ideal families living together. Similarly the quote below.
What treasure would I like to leave behind for the Unification Church. Home Church is the treasure I am leaving behind for you after going the way of sacrifice throughout my life. What did I say is the treasure I can leave behind for the members of Unification Church? You are given the opportunity to inherit the authority of the Unification Church in a dignified manner from Heaven and Earth, or from God and Satan; this is the treasure. If Home Church is perfected, will there be a term Unification Church or not? Will there be God's providence, or not? Maybe these terms will exist in a Home Church that is not yet perfected, somewhere far away. Yet in the Home Church I created, there is no religion and no providence of God. It is the place where the people of Heaven live. (1980/10/19)
Out of Tribal Messiahship activities, everything else should emerge, grow and develop. Tribal Messiahship, tills the soil, that all the fruits and harvest will come from, thus establishing the hometown community, clan, society, nation and world. Everything else, is subordinate to that. Why? Because the family and expansion of the family is the purpose of God's creation. The Tribal Messiah and his family are the cornerstone of the Kingdom of Heaven and the yeast to expand the family level to the community, society, nation, world and cosmic level through the collaboration and co-operation of Central Blessed Families working together throughout the world as a federation of families. 'You should know that with your returning to hometown, the unification of a new nation will arise. Amen!' Herein lies the reason why Father founded the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification which was to have also superseded the Unification Church that represented the religious realm and era, prior to the advent of Cheon Il Guk and the era after the coming of heaven. Following are quotes from Father which explain this point. CSG, p.2360-2362
"The mission of the HSA-UWC is over and so is the mission of religion. For the first time in history we are entering into the new age, an age when humanity does not need salvation. The Family Federation is creating ideal families in order to complete the work of restoration to establish God's ideal of creation and to build the heavenly ideal world." CSG, P. 2360, RHS April 8, 1997, Korea
Therefore, families must settle on earth. So far, religions have focused on individual salvation and not on family salvation. All the religions have taught people to leave and abandon their families. Now is a different time. All the religions talk about saving individuals, but they have no idea about saving families, tribes, and nations. Our Unification Church teaches about saving nations and the world based on families. (1997/4/8)
God's ideal of creation, which He has longed for since the Garden of Eden, will appear only when a family settles down, becomes recognized by the world, and bears fruit. Through sons and daughters, that family must expand horizontally to become a tribe that will automatically connect itself to the people. CSG. P.2361 LHS (1997/4/8)
That is why families are important. Everything will be completed within the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Now, please repeat after me, "The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification." Its center is the family. (1997/4/8)
Without establishing the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, world peace will never be achieved. This is an important point. Families are this important. World peace starts at home.... (1992/7/10)
Now is the time for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Everything starts in the family. Focusing on the family, tribe and nation you should attend God. Without realizing the family ideal, through which you can unite with God, the Kingdom of Heaven will not come about. (1999/3/23)
The Unification Church now means the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. This means that the WFWP is being established in your homes. I have to put all families in order: satanic families, archangel type families on God's side, and Adam type families. Since the separation from God grew out of a bad marriage, the marriage has to be restored and perfected, creating a unified world.....
Forty years after the start of my public ministry I founded the WFWP. In order to accomplish this goal, we need to have something like a constitution as an absolute regulation – the Family Pledge. There has never been such a term as Family Pledge throughout history. It is the family pledge that points us in the right direction and enables us to complete the Heavenly Kingdom. (1994/11/3)
There is no real substance at the moment. Then, what is the real substance? It is the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification that will come. It signifies the completion of the four position foundation. What is God's ideal of creation? It is the completion of God's will. What is God's will then? It is the completion of God's ideal of creation. What is the completion of the ideal of creation? It means completing the four position foundation. What does it mean by completing the four position foundation? In the completed four position foundation, fathers mothers, sons and daughters are all united. And then, keeping in time with God, they know how to sing and dance together with Him. that is the completion of God's will. (1992/7/1)
The time has come for you to join the original family of Adam worldwide. All the people in the world must perfect themselves on the family level. What must be done to reach perfection? Your families must be the ones who restore the fallen families through atonement offerings. This has to be achieved by each and every family worldwide, making an effort through the Family Federation. Perfection has to be achieved by Adam and Eve. God cannot do it for them. True Parents cannot do it for them. The reason that the Family Federation exists is to allow you to perfect yourselves through your own efforts. This has to be a worldwide organization. You are able to go beyond the fallen world and the lineage of Adam through the Family Federation...." CSG. P. 2362 RHS (1995/10/30)
In summary, based on what the children do as brothers and sisters, determines whether the ideal world is realized or not. That means, the children determine the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven, just as it was the children, Adam and Eve originally, who would determine the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven. The children are the substantial horizontal expression of God's creation. If the children can't work together and love each other there is no Kingdom of Heaven. The establishment of CIG will be determined by the children, which is us and successive generations. True Parents alone will not build the Kingdom of Heaven, nor any individual by their own will and determination.
The above quotes from Father's teachings I believe makes the course and action we need to take very clear. Brothers and sisters foremost, need to unite in heart together, collaborate, co-operate, communicate and work together centering on sibling love to build the Kingdom of Heaven, and then Cheon Il Guk, will be in the midst of us.
Finally, I would like to re-iterate that life does not emerge from religiosity and vertical etiquette and protocols. Life emerges from the root of love, which originates in the desire, to live for the sake of, and to love others. 'Love one another as I have loved you.'
Brothers and sisters, let's unite together centering on sibling love. "Only then will all the substance of God's thought finally bear fruit".
With brotherly love
Stephen Downward