Way Of Unification - Part 1 |
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by Rev. Sun Myung Moon |
Section 6. Other-Centered Philosophy And Unification
1. The Origin Of Human Happiness
1) Love, Ideals and Happiness Cannot be Realized By Oneself Alone
Since ancient times, humankind has been longing for eternal, truthful, and unchanging love, ideals, happiness and peace. But today we are living in a world of distrust and a time of confusion. In this world it is impossible to find the conditions in which the ideals mentioned above can be realized. We might say that people have been doing their best, but have come to an impasse.
If people are unable to realize these ideals, then we have to seek beyond our human limitations to find an eternal, unchanging and truthful Absolute Being and rely upon Him. If this Being is longing for true love, true ideals, true peace and true happiness, then it will be possible to realize these ideals through Him.
In this case, if there were such a Being, we would call Him "God." This God would be the King of love, the King of ideals, the King of peace and happiness. if, through God, we want to set up the ideal conditions pursued by human beings, we have to listen to God's suggestions. This is a logical conclusion.
The words "love, ideals, happiness and peace" cannot stand alone. They can be spoken only in the context of a reciprocal relationship. Not even the Absolute God can realize these things by Himself alone.
God needs an object as His reciprocal partner. If you ask, "What in God's creation is His reciprocal partner?" the obvious answer is, it is humankind. We have forgotten the fact that humankind is the object of God, and could fulfill God's love, ideals, happiness and peace.
What use is God's love to Himself alone? What use are His ideals? It's a natural conclusion that, without humankind as His reciprocal partner, God cannot realize His love and ideals.
2) The Origin of Love, Ideals, Happiness and Peace
The next question is, where did God, the King of wisdom and the Center of everything, place the origin of true love, ideals, happiness and peace? In the subject or the object?
There are two positions, subject and object. There are two kinds of relationship, subject for object, and object for subject. As the Creator, where would God place the elements of the ideal?
God had to think hard about where to place the origin of true love, ideals and peace. Should He place it in the position where the object serves the subject, or where the subject serves the object? If He placed only one side in a position to live for the other, then humans would do the same and the road to unity would be blocked. You must know this.
Then what was the way to unity and the origin of peace? God had to set up a principle whereby both God Himself and true human beings live for others. Therefore true love, true ideals, true peace and true happiness cannot be found except in the position of living for others, Human beings have not understood this basic principle of creation.
What kind of people are true parents? They were born for their children, they live for their children and they die for their children. In this way true ideal parents come about, and true parental love is actualized. Parents, to their children, become the center of peace and the standard of happiness.
On the other hand, where is the standard of true filial piety? It is exactly the other way around. Children become true children when they are born for their parents, live for their parents and die for their parents. In this way, to their parents, they become ideal children, children of true love, and objects of happiness and peace.
Here we can suggest one common formula: only through living for others can the conditions be set to bring about true love, ideals, happiness and peace.
3) The Principle of Creation and the Origin of Human Happiness
What is God's principle of creation? The creation is God's investment of Himself. Since He invested Himself completely, the complete result can be guaranteed. You must know this is the principle of creation. Therefore we have to invest ourselves completely and give sincerely. By giving sincerely you find your future object, build a foundation for your self and create the environment in which you prove yourself All this is impossible by merely receiving. This is the principle of creation.
Living for others is the principle of creation and the origin of human happiness. For example you might ask someone, "Why was I born?" There are many distinguished guests here today who might say, "I was born to be the best person I can be, for myself." But originally, a man is born not for himself, but for a woman. No one can deny that man was born for woman.
Man and woman are in a reciprocal position. Men have wide shoulders while women have wide hips. When you get on a bus in New York you can see that men and women sitting side by side fit very well since men are wide on top and women are wide on the bottom. This, in short, explains that men and women were born for a reciprocal relationship.
Man was born not for man but for woman. Woman was born not for woman but for man. If we don't understand this clearly, problems can occur. This is God's principle of creation, so unless you follow this principle you can never enjoy true happiness or peace.
Man was born for woman, not for man. Woman was born for man, not for woman. That is it. You were not born for yourself, you were born for others. You have to break your concept of self. If you break this, the unified world can come about.
The person who seeks value not in the self but through others, through reciprocal relationship, is not an unhappy person. Because he has a heartistic relationship with an object, he is never lonely and he is happy. True parents exist for their children, true children exist for their parents, true people exist for the nation, and a true nation exists for its people. This is where true happiness exists.
When you apply this principle, who was the best American patriot? You may answer Abraham Lincoln. He was born as a common person and came to represent democracy. He lived for America and died for America, so he is in line with this principle. That's why Americans consider him the very symbol of a true patriot.
When you ask who in human history was a real saint of saints, by applying this principle you will find immediately that it was Jesus Christ. He came for humankind, he lived for humankind, he died for humankind, and he even prayed for forgiveness for his enemies, who hung him on the cross. It is a natural conclusion that Jesus was higher than any other saint. He must have been the loving son of God.
Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven will be established according to this formula.
2. The Reason God Created The Principle Of Living For Others
Why did God make this principle of living for others? I'll explain through several illustrations. First of all, let me ask you a question. If someone truly loves you and sacrifices for you 100 percent, then how much would you want to return that love? 100 percent or 50 percent, keeping 50 percent in your pocket? Or would you want to give everything you have? Which one is in accordance with your original conscience? The answer is, you would want to return more than you receive.
Here is Mr. Pak translating for me. If I give him 100 percent with true love, and he knows this, then he will return more than 100 percent. So 100 percent is returned as 110 percent. After you receive 110 percent, you would give again 120 percent. In this way the concept of eternity comes about. This is the beginning of eternity. That's why God set up this principle. In this way development and prosperity are possible.
Second, if there are five people in your family and one of them lives for the family, eventually he will become the center of the family. In other words, a voluntary realm of dominion would be formed. People today don't understand how happy it would be to be dominated by a subject who lives absolutely for the object.
You may never have imagined how glorious it would be to be under the direct dominion of God in the spiritual world. This is the true subject-object relationship.
What is the third point? We know that love and ideals are even more precious than life itself. We tend to think these come from ourselves, but this is a big misunderstanding. Where do love and ideals come from? They come from your object. Because they come from your object, the principle of living for others is necessary. God, the King of Wisdom, knows all of this, so He made this principle. Now I think you understand.
The concept of eternity is impossible to grasp when you stand in the position of living for yourself. When you consider motion, the bigger the turning force, the faster the turning speed. Now we know that God, the King of Wisdom, made this principle of living for others for the sake of eternity. The concept of eternity and of eternal development and prosperity begin right here.
From the present position we develop and move forward. We feel happy only when we have a sense of impetus from our present position. That's why God established the principle of living for others. For example, if in a family of ten people it is the last brother who lives for and serves the family, even though he is the youngest, the parents and the whole family will gather around him. As time goes by, the one who lives for others automatically will become the central figure of the family.
God created the cosmos, and He Himself exists for others. The person who resembles God, no matter how small he is, even if he's the last brother, will become the center of the family if he lives for others. We haven't realized this until now.
When you live for others, you don't diminish yourself. The more you serve, the more you will be placed in the position of a central figure. God is exactly like that. God will place the person who resembles Him in the position to be a central figure. Only from this position can perfect, ideal unity be realized.
Today the majority of people would rather die than be dominated by others. Especially learned and distinguished people have this attitude. But I want to tell you how happy it is to be dominated by someone who lives for others. In the spiritual world God is the great Master of the Cosmos. There you will find great happiness in being dominated by Him, because He is the central figure of all those who live for others. Even if you are controlled and dominated by God for tens of thousands of years, you will be happy and grateful. The world of ideal unity could be established right there. So naturally God set up the principle of living for others.
Love does not originate from myself. Without an object, we can never find the love and ideals that are more precious than life. We haven't realized this point until now. Only through a reciprocal partner can you receive precious love and realize your ideal. That's why God had to set up the principle of living for others. We must remember this one thing.
3. The Origin Of Ideal Man
Where can unity begin? Unity doesn't occur in a self-serving position, but rather in a position where the self is serving the whole. This is the way of unity.
In a company, what kind of person will take over the owner's position in the future? The person who works harder than others. He comes ten minutes earlier than others, and works hard to support the company, and leaves even one minute later than others in order to work more. A person with that kind of spirit will become the central figure of the company. It's that simple. If you live by this standard you will become the center.
Centering on this principle, you must be a public servant on the stage of life. You have to be a public servant. You shouldn't be self-serving. You must be a person who stands in a public position. If the Unification Church goes like this, no one can stop its development. No one. Even if a nation opposed the Unification Church, that would not stop its development and growth.
Goodness advances whenever it collides with evil. Wherever it goes, it wins. It sounds difficult, but as long as this principle is not wrong, victory is certain. The person who lives according to this principle and sacrifices himself for it, will certainly win. The person who does not take his profit for himself but uses it for the bigger purpose of the nation will not perish, even if his nation perishes. If there were an organization that followed this principle, even if the nation and the world perished, it would not perish. Now you know that Unification Thought, which includes this concept, will not perish.
What is the way of unity? It is to serve others. What about the unification of South and North Korea? Shall we unite according to what Kim Il Sung wants? No. People will willingly receive anything that comes with love. So if you take the position from which you can give forever, then the unification of South and North will take place. That means, if you have a foundation upon which you can give forever, from a higher position than the people of North Korea, then their propaganda will not work. If South Korea stood in a higher position than North Korea in terms of its economy, living standards and knowledge, and could give to the North forever, perfect unity would come about even if you didn't want it to.
Unification cannot be initiated from a debtor's position. Do you follow? There will be no unification from the debtor's position. The Kingdom of Heaven will not come from the debtor's position. A debtor will never prosper. Until you are able to pay back the interest you owe several times over, there will be no prosperity. The Heavenly Kingdom is the richest of the rich countries. So the Heavenly Kingdom cannot be brought about from a debtor's position. You have to know this.
What are good and evil? Private things are on the side of evil, public things are on the side of goodness. It's that simple. You must know this clearly. What areas are the concern of religion? Religion is concerned with public things. Public life concerns itself with not only the physical world but the spiritual world as well, and is even related to the multi-dimensional world of the Absolute Subject, God.
If you use the nation for your own private purpose, or if you take national property for your personal use or for your family, then the nation will collapse. Don't you think so? Yes, the nation will perish. National civil servants are public servants. If they take public things for their own personal use, the nation will collapse. Even if the nation doesn't collapse immediately, sooner or later it will, or God will make it collapse.
Which is more public, the mind or the body? The mind. That's why you have to subjugate your body centered on your mind. Don't stand in the position of a debtor in your life. Instead, take the position of a giver. Don't be a one-dimensional giver, but give with God's love. If you become that kind of person you will never perish. If the debtor doesn't return anything to you, your descendants will be blessed by God.
4. Establishing Right Values
1) True Love is Giving Without Remembering
Love doesn't stand alone. Where does love come from? It doesn't come from me, but from my reciprocal partner. Because love is from my partner, I have to bow my head and humbly receive love from my partner. The heavenly principle of living for others is based on this point of view. In order to receive the most precious thing that is coming to me, I have to serve it. You will have love when you have lived the philosophy of existing for others.
Human society became rotten after the Fall. All philosophies are based on self-centered private desires. We have to sweep away all of these ideas. Can we get rid of them with weapons? Economic power? Knowledge? No, these are impossible. This can be done only by true love. That love is from God. If you have a relationship with God's love, then you will have the privilege of dominion, independence and inheritance. In the world of energy the output is always less than the input. But in the world of love the output is always more than the input. So the more love you give, the more power you have.
What is true love? True love is love of giving. True love is giving and forgetting, no matter how much you give. No matter how much you give you never get tired. Ninety-year-old parents still say every morning to their 70-year-old son, "Be careful on the street!" They repeat those words for decades without getting tired. Even in this fallen world, parents' hearts are like this. Then do you think Heavenly Father could grow tired of giving love?
When we establish the realm of God's true object in our lives, and when we know that the glory of love is eternal, then we can finally define the eternal ethics centering on human love. Where is the person who understands this?
Not long ago, when I was lying in prison in America, God came and visited me and said, "I can't trust anyone but you to solve the situation in Nicaragua." How on earth could it be that God could visit me and say this? In America, the representative of the developed nations, among 240 million people and countless religious leaders, God had no one to visit but me. You can imagine what a poor God He is! But at least He knows how to find love; that is fortunate. If I hadn't worked for the world, South America would already have fallen prey to Communism.
What is love? It is giving and forgetting and still wanting to give again. False love gives and asks for more in return. It's business-like love. It says, "You have to give more to me than I give to you." This is satanic love.
True love is giving and forgetting and still wanting to give. False love is giving, then demanding what was given plus interest. Jesus Christ came to earth and said, "Love your enemy." That means he forgot what he gave. He even forgot his enemies. He only remembered to give love. Forgetting his enemies and only wanting to love is the image of the ideal human, which the whole cosmos is longing for. Jesus Christ came with this heart, that's why he was the son of God.
What kind of person is God? He resembles His son. Who is His son?
If you say Jesus is His son, then God resembles Jesus. How is this? Just as Jesus forgot his enemies and loved them, so God forgets His enemies and loves and loves again. That is God. When people are about to die they call out, "God! Please save me!"
Do humans have a Master to whom they can call out, "Master, we need you! There's nobody else like you in this cosmos!" If a woman had a husband who loved and served her and forgot about it, who lived for his wife and forgot about it and still wanted to serve her more, she would be a happy wife. If a man had a wife who loved and served him and forgot about it, and still wanted to love and serve him more, he would be a happy husband. This is the principle of being a true wife or a true husband.
What does the Unification Church want to do? To fulfill the true human desire, initiate a movement to please God, and lead this movement to world unity, which is God's desire. The Unification Church is to do this.
2) The Structure of the Heavenly Kingdom and Religious Teachings
You may not know much about the spiritual world, but I have had many opportunities to experience it.
It's simple to answer the question, what is the nature of the original world where God lives, which is called in different religions "heaven, paradise," or "nirvana"?
That's the place where those people go who lived for God, were born for others, lived and died for others. This is the original ideal structure. God has raised people up to go there through many religions in history.
That's why religions teach us to be humble and meek, and to sacrifice. These are the principles of the spiritual world. God trained religious people during their earthly life to suit the spiritual world. So the more advanced religions emphasize a higher level of sacrifice and service, to raise people in line with the spiritual world through their daily lives.
From this fact we can recognize that God has been working His providence throughout human history.
No matter how thick the Bible is, its teaching can be stated in these few words: live for others. Jesus said, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." We have come to know that Jesus said these paradoxical words to tell us that living for others is in accordance with the principle of the original world.
If you ask what a heavenly family is like, I can tell you it is the family where the wife and the husband each stand in the position to live 100 percent for each other and to die for each other.
A Korean maxim goes like this: "Family harmony makes everything possible." It is the same for a nation. If the leader of a nation knew that his value lay in serving the people, not just in wielding power, and the people knew that their value lay in serving the nation, not just living for themselves, this nation would be the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
When we expand this principle beyond the tribe and the nation to create a world where everyone lives for others, this would be the Utopia of Love, the world of ideals, peace and happiness. When you hold high the banner of living for others, there is no place you cannot go.
3) Establishing Right Values
People ask, "What is the meaning of life?" It's a problem to find a philosophy of life, a view of the nation, world and cosmos and, going one step further, a view of God. How can you find these? It is the most serious problem to put all these things in the proper sequence and order and to understand their relationships in a multi-dimensional way.
From the viewpoint of the principle of living for others, the most precious view of life is that I exist for all humankind, for the world, for the nation, for society, for my family, for my wife and children. If you found happiness in this position, you would know that this is the best view of life.
It's the same for a nation. What is the ideal nation? If a nation seeks only its own self-interest, it will be accused as a bad nation. We know this very well through history.
Today there is no single nation that carries out its policies for the sake of the world. As you know well, today's Communist world is divided. The reason for the division of the Communists in 1957 was that the Soviet Union, centered on the Slavic people, dreamed of conquering the whole world.
This division occurred because Communism became nationalistic. The United States today is declining from its position as leader of the democratic world. Why? Although it should be the democratic country that leads the whole world, it is forsaking the world and pursuing its own interests. Now the United States cannot stop its own decline.
Today in Korea we are discussing our national philosophy. But if that philosophy centers only on Korea, it will pass away with history. That's what happened with Soviet Communism, and what is happening now with the United States. If Korea, even though it's a small country with a small population, establishes a national philosophy for the world, then eventually Korea will lead the world. From this point of view I can draw this official conclusion.
The true nation is the nation that serves the world. At the same time, the true world exists not only for itself. Because the world itself is a result, it needs a philosophy in alignment with its origin, the Absolute God.
I tell you that there is no way to lead this world and solve its problems with a self-serving ideology.
4) How Can We Realize the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth?
God thinks of all humankind as His children, so His purpose is to save all humankind. Taking that one step further, it is to save the whole cosmos. Therefore religions which wear the clothes of one national realm cannot stand before God's will for the whole.
Since God's purpose is to save the whole world, He is considering on which dimension it is possible to do that. The principle is simple: the family lives for the clan, the clan for the tribe, the tribe for the nation, the nation for the world, and the world for God. In this world, unless you exist for God, you will not be given a position as a child of God, the omniscient, omnipotent Creator of the whole cosmos.
Everything exists for the world and the world exists for God. From this position, God exists for the world, the world for the nation, the nation for the tribe, the tribe for the clan, and the clan for the family. Furthermore, what belongs to me belongs to my wife, what belongs to the couple belongs to the family, what belongs to the family belongs to the clan, what belongs to the clan belongs to the tribe, what belongs to the tribe belongs to the nation, what belongs to the nation belongs to the world. The world of this concept belongs to God.
Then who does God belong to? He belongs to me. When you reach this position you will have reached the highest glory. Isn't that so? Everyone has the desire to be the best in the world.
By becoming a person of such value I stand in the glorious position where the belongings of God, the Center of the Cosmos, are my belongings. In conclusion, only by living for others does paradise become possible on the levels of the family, the nation and the world. In this way, we are connected to the world in which God and humankind can dance and sing together in an ideal garden.
This is the heavenly world that religions pursue. We can conclude that this world would be called the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
How can the ideal Kingdom of Heaven on Earth be realized? It is possible only when man lives for woman, parents live for children, the family lives for the clan, the clan for the nation, the nation for the world, and the world for God.
If this occurred, your belongings would be mine, mine would be the family's, the family's belongings would be the clan's, the clan's would be the tribe's, the tribe's would be the nation's, the nation's would be the world's and the world's would be God's. This kind of movement must occur. Someone must initiate this movement on earth. Unless someone with love and will, or some denomination, initiates this, the world will not find the way to return to heaven. So this must be done.
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