The Way For Students |
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by Rev. Sun Myung Moon |
Section 1. The Existence Of God
1. Knowing The Existence Of God
If we look at Reverend Moon's global ideology, what is the primary point? It is the principle which should enable the world's religions to unite. How can it unite religions? By teaching about God more clearly than others. If we do this, as a religion of experience, this can be achieved. It is not impossible to unite religions.
What is the second point? It is the principle of ideology. People run about in confusion seeking a clear ideology on which to base their direction in life. What is that ideology? It is the answers to the questions of life, the questions of the individual. What is a human being? A human being is a manifestation of result, not the ultimate cause. No one insists that human beings are the first cause. Even we humans do not know our cause, but we know that we are the result of some existence because we are born.
When we consider the question of what a human being is, we should know there is surely a being who exists as the first cause and who made human beings to be born as the result. Therefore, we should say clearly that the answer is God. It is possible to set our direction only in that way. How should we establish an ideology for our life, how should our family live, how about society, the nation and the world? And how will the world be in the final days? That is not only about the direction I am going.
These days, what is the way to seek out a philosophy? Though philosophy investigates all, intellectuals who define God through theory have been branded as failures. They could not discover God. The world could not be one because religious leaders of the Middle Ages could not teach about the true God, and from that time the world fell into humanism. Humanism says there is no God, that the concept of God is a falsehood. Why? Because there was no clear teaching about God.
It is impossible to know God without clear experience of Him. It is impossible to know God by theory alone. It is necessary to have experiences through inspiration. However, religious leaders have been unable to teach about God in that way.
What is religion? Philosophy tried to find God, but failed to do so. There was global conflict between democracy and communism, but that has ended. Communism has failed. Why? Because they could not find God.
Then, what is religion? Religion does not need to define God; it should seek to find and live with God. Sometimes God becomes a theory of ideal life, a theory with which to search for happiness in a life with God. True religion is therefore living with God.
Now, what is the question here? Without understanding God, it is impossible to solve the problem of ideology. Solving the problem of communism-which insists on materialism-is also impossible without knowing God. We should destroy communism which says there is no God, and say with conviction, "God exists" 120 percent more strongly.
Without knowing God, things have no value. Don't you agree? Even though an ideology might reveal a right idea to the world, if it does not stand in the position of object to God it will be swept away by changing circumstances. This would happen because it is not an absolute ideology. (141-234)
2. Originally We Would Have Known Naturally
If humans had not fallen, it wouldn't have been necessary to ask if there was God or not. This should be realized by one's original heart. In other words, if the first ancestors had appeared as good parents and not fallen, the family they established would have expanded and become the world. Humankind would not have needed to discuss the empty theory of whether there is God or not. There would be a connection through blood lineage, so it would be realized through the body at once. If it needed an explanation, that would be God's mistake. Originally, human beings did not need any explanation. Humankind should have started from a position beyond the need of explanation. However, because of the fall they started from a position separate from God and expanded from the individual to the family, tribe, and world; and the world came to discuss whether God exists or not. If human beings had not fallen and had been born through original good parents, whether God exists or not would not be a point of discussion.
Babies are born with the knowledge of how to drink milk from their mother's breast. They know this from inside the womb. As soon as they see their mother's breast they know what to do. They know automatically. If humankind had not fallen, we would know and work out our relationship with God automatically, knowing the right way. But, because of the fall we became oblivious to everything. The result is doubt. This is the tragic reality. (20-306)
3. God's Omnipresence
If the first ancestors, Adam and Eve had not fallen, what would an ideology united centering on God's love be like? Humankind was not supposed to be separated from God. God is our Father, both internally and externally speaking. The realm of the earth does not exist independently, by itself. The spirit world, centering on God, unites with the physical world whose representative is the first ancestor.
Therefore, it can be said the spirit world, which is centering on God, is the internal aspect and the physical world, which is centering on Adam and Eve, is the external aspect. And they become one.
Then, where does God exist? He is not in the spirit world, but in our heart, the center of our heart. So God, who is in the center of our hearts, and Adam and Eve, who receive the commandment centering on their hearts, are the same. (145 -310)
Then, how can one can feel the omnipresence of God? Feel the air as God's breath from His mouth, feel a typhoon as God's breath from His nose. Feel the stream as God's sweat from having passed through the suffering course of restoration for the world. Learn the love of God from the sun which is the symbol of the elements of life in the whole cosmos. Nature is one of the text books for experiencing God's heart, the text book for making loving children happy. If there is a person who feels that the leaves are as his/her children and speaks to them, that person is close to being a saint. Do you understand? That person is not crazy. (59-102)
4. God Is The Invisible Existence
Is God dead or alive? [Alive] Is Satan dead or alive? Have you seen God? How do you know God? Have you seen Satan? How do you know Satan? Communism questions the idea. Ideas and existence become the questions in philosophy. Communism thinks all invisible things are only ideas. Abstract nouns, and the conscience, are thought of as mere ideas.
However, have you seen love? Love is also an idea, an abstract from that point of view, yet love is not an idea. All forms of life are in contact with love. (186-67)
God is very smart. God thought, "I will become the invisible master." He chose the convenient way. That is the most convenient way because He can do as He wishes, and can neither be caught nor be seen by anyone. Thus, it is enough that He does His duty as the master. Do you understand? If God had a body and said to the cosmos whose span is 21 billion light years, "come to my bosom, stay inside of me," could God do His duty? If God has a heart, how big is His heart? God saw that He would be miserable.
As He is smart, God thought to take dominion as the invisible existence that can move in the center at His convenience. Who is inconvenienced? Nobody feels troubled when God goes through the physical world as He likes, because He is invisible. You do not feel when God comes and passes through, even though you have a body. You do not know when God comes through your body. How convenient this is! It is the most convenient way, isn't it? It is a simple theory that God became the invisible God because that resulted in the most convenience. Do you know when the air is passing? [Yes] Do you feel it when the air is passing? [No] You cannot feel that, can you? If you cannot feel it even if the air is passing, how can you know God's passing? Without doubt it can be said that it is most convenient for God to be an invisible existence. God should therefore be the existence who can dominate this great cosmos, and easily wrap it up in a kerchief. He is invisible, but His invisible heart sees that this world is very small
5. We Must Know God Through Experience
God exists. If we say vaguely that God exists, we feel God is far away from us. If God exists, what kind of relationship should exist between Himself and ourselves? How we relate with God is the important question. (130-209)
"God exists." Those are not only words: when we think of God via the principle centering on the relationship between the subject and the object, God is not an inevitable existence, but existed before our thinking. God dominates all of our feelings and our whole body. To recognize this is most important.
Don't you think the Principle is to know something after recognizing it? To recognize something after knowing it is not the Principle. Knowing after recognizing. When it is cold, we say, "It is cold. "This not knowing after feeling, but it is feeling followed by knowing. In the same way, if God exists you have to feel Him. You should feel Him existing in your cells. The stage is the problem. In other words, the problem is how to establish those circumstances through experience. (58-291)
Now when we ask ourselves whether we received God's love or are we receiving God's love, what kind of answer comes? Today there are many theologians who do not know whether there is a God in this world or not. How about members of the Unification Church? We should know God through experience. We should just feel God. The Unification Church has its share of love to receive from God. We should receive that share of love. (128-130)
This is the issue. You should be able to say, "Father" when you are sleeping or talking to yourself. We should be filled with the love of the Father much more than other people are filled with love of their object. When we forget to eat and steep because of our beloved Father, and we call out "Father!" then even if we think Heavenly Father is not with us, His hand will be holding our hand. Such things happen. The dream would become a reality. When we call out "Father," we are held in the Heavenly Father's bosom. You should know that the most important issue is how to have such experiences as these in our lives of faith. Such experiences, their frequency and the degree of feeling, would be the standard of our life of faith.
If you have a heart of love, you would say, "I have to do this, so please do it with me;" then God is already with you wherever you go. When you feel that, God becomes our "Gracious and kindly God." (58-299)
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