The Words of In Jin Moon from 2011
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The Words of In Jin Moon from 2011 |
Good morning, brothers and sisters. I think this front row had breakfast already. [Laughter.] I'm delighted to be with you again this Sunday. Our True Parents are with us still in Las Vegas, and they send their greetings and their love. I'm always so appreciative every time they ask about the American movement and the blessed children and how everybody is doing. I think they get a sense that our movement is really coming alive, and they can feel it. So, thank you for your love and for always responding to our True Parents in such a great way.
As you know, the tragedy that took place in Japan is still unfolding, and our True Parents are sending their prayers to Japan and to our brothers and sisters there. But, as I shared with the young people who attended the Youth Concert for World Peace -- the first one of its kind here in the United States -- there is some good news about Japan. In the prefecture where the tsunami hit, the town of Sendai, our leaders have reported that, yes, a lot of lives were lost, but not one of our brothers or sisters was harmed.
I was told the stories of two of our sisters. One remembers being swept away by the tsunami when, just out of the blue, a man grabbed her and pulled her to safety. She has no idea who this man was. Perhaps he was a real man, perhaps he was an angel, but she was saved from being swept away. I know that she is so grateful for the opportunity to live another day and have the chance to work together with our True Parents.
Another story is about a sister whose car was being swept away by the current but somehow it came to hit upon the roof of a building, and she was able to crack open the window, get herself out of the vehicle, and thus be rescued. These are two stories of harrowing and life-threatening situations, but when I heard that these two sisters were pulled to safety I felt that once again our True Parents' prayers are really with them, and we are so thankful that our True Parents continue to pray for Japan and its quick recovery.
I want to thank those of you who attended the Youth Concert and donated on behalf of the Japan relief fund that we have started here. Please continue to donate and please continue to work with different organizations that will be raising money so we can send the relief fund to Japan to help them recover. Thank you once again.
When I was leaving Las Vegas, I was telling our True Parents that I really need to get back to New York for the Youth Concert and also that it was a chance to have almost a memorial service for our dear older brother. I explained to Father that it's my heart not just to remember my great older brother, Hyo Jin Oppa, but also to remember the others that have gone before us -- my younger brother Heung Jin, my older sister Hye Jin, and my younger brother Young Jin.
One of the things that Father teaches through the Legacy of Peace Seunghwa ceremony is to let our loved ones move on by celebrating their lives well lived. I thought how wonderful would it be if we can start a youth concert series that allows the young people to celebrate their lives and to remember those who have gone before us and what they have meant to us. We can remember them in a joyful, loving way by sharing the universal language of love, which is music.
When I explained this to our True Father, he said to me something that I found profound. He said, "You need to tell those young people that we have a lot of talented young people in our movement because you were hand-picked by God. Your parents came together not just because they liked each other, but because they saw themselves as being part of one family and they wanted to try their best to live up to being that ideal husband and wife, father and mother, and do their best in terms of bringing up ideal families of their own."
Father was saying that these young people are really special kids, talented kids who are touched by God, blessed by God; we call them blessed children. But, he said, "You need to share with them that the language of love and music is a sacred art." He used the word sacred.
Usually we think of music as a way to express ourselves. One of the pitfalls that we can so easily fall into is thinking, "I am such a great musician, a great player, look how fantastic I am." And the stage is an interesting medium that brings out the best and the worst. When Father emphasized the word sacred, he was saying that offering up music to other people is an art form that is sacred.
When I think and pray about the word sacred, it's a very interesting word. We know it means holy, something sanctified, having to do with the church or a rite. But all in all, the overall understanding of the word is that it is holy. I've always found it fascinating in coming to America and learning the language and how the words sound to analyze what letters are chosen and what they look like.
The word sacred means something holy, but to my ears it's two syllables sounding like "say" and "crud." This is a holy word, but in one sense it sounds like "say cruddy things," the opposite of something sacred; it's something profane.
When you look at the word God, our Heavenly Parent, and you read it backwards it's dog. Why is it that one of the greatest words in the English language, God, my eternal Heavenly Parent, is dog when read backwards?
Father touched upon this in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He talked then about how if you don't have God in your life and you don't have a clear understanding of where you come from, who you are, what you need to do, and what you need to leave behind before you go to the next phase of your live up in spirit world, it's like living a life of a dog in succumbing to animalistic instincts. We succumb to the animalistic passions, the wiles of the world, the temptations. We can run around barking in all four corners of the world but not really realize who we are. We don't have a way to find our own dignity and rise up from the four-legged creature-like existence to become a bipedal human being, vertically connected to our Heavenly Parent and understanding that we are divine eternal sons and daughters.
When Father used the word sacred, it made me realize that here is a word symbolizing something extremely holy, something sanctified and blessed. But in one sense it sounds like "say crud." When I hear the word, it's a reminder that if we don't realize that our life is sacred, that it is holy, blessed, inspired, and sanctified by Heavenly Parent, then we can easily degenerate into a child saying cruddy things and being a negative person.
When we forget that we are holy, that our lives are sacred, we can so easily fall into a trap where we are no different from dust and wind. We are worthless and have no dignity. Then we end up becoming a vessel of negativity and of a lot of criticism. We start criticizing our God -- "Why did you not bless me as much as this person? Why did you not make me more beautiful, more powerful, more rich? Why me?" That's saying cruddy things to our Heavenly Parent, isn't it?
Then we turn to our parents and say, "What have you done for me lately?" The greatest gift our parents have given to us is our life. They can give nothing more precious than that and the love they provide throughout all the years when we walk our road of self-discovery. We criticize our parents for what they are not, even as we are not appreciating them for what they are.
Then we start looking around in our families, picking on our siblings, saying, "Why aren't you more like this? You need to get out of my way. Why don't you just leave me alone and get out of my life?"
If we don't find ourselves being connected to God, to something that's sacred and holy, we can so easily degenerate into human beings that live an animal-like existence, walking on all fours. We can so easily degenerate into negative and highly critical people, not realizing how blessed we really are and saying cruddy things to both our eternal Heavenly Parent and the very people we actually care about.
I've thought that the word holy itself, meaning something divine or blessed, is interesting. If you happen to be a pot full of holes, a lot of things are going to start leaking out, so it's not a very positive visual image. It's a reminder that if we are not connected to the divine, if we don't hold ourselves to be a divine vessel having infinite worth and dignity, then we may end up almost drilling holes into ourselves -- the holes of insecurity, fear, and feelings of not getting enough, not being acknowledged, and not being appreciated. Very soon we can find ourselves literally being hollowed out by all the holes that we drill into ourselves, because we are not realizing that we have infinite value and potential, and that with our daily lives we should practice infinite gratitude to our Heavenly Parent.
In the world of entertainment and art, there is a huge problem of ego. This includes whatever is contained in the modern perception of a great musician -- whether a classical artist or a punk rock musician. There's a huge problem of "Me, myself, and I." What Father is saying with his message that making music, painting great works of art, or writing beautiful works of literature, is sacred, is that it's not really about you. It's about how God can use you as a vessel to move, inspire, and empower people.
Often the language of love is all encompassing and covers a whole spectrum of emotions. Love is not just sweet. Sometimes love is tart. Sometimes love is painful. Love is not always "Hallelujah!" Sometimes it's the pits of hell, where you struggle with yourself, to find your footing, to regain your relationship with Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, each and every day. Love is a myriad of different emotions.
When we're expressing this spectrum of emotions through the sacred art that is the universal language of music, Father was emphasizing, we need first and foremost to be a humble vessel knowing that it's really not about me, or how well I sing or dance. It's really more about whether I was able to move somebody in the audience, to provoke him or her to want to be better, or maybe to want to become an artist her- or him-self. Was I able to be the vessel through which some people in the audience felt moved?
I got a little taste of the talent that's brewing in our movement, and I very much look forward year after year to watching them grow -- and not only grow musically but also spiritually and emotionally into beautiful artists. I've talked to a lot of young people both in and out of our movement. Many times when I talk to different kids who are interested in music, studying at conservatory, and ask them what's the reason they got into the arts, some of them are quite blunt. "I got into music because I want chicks." "I got into music because I want drugs." "I got into music because I want the power." These are the things that you hear over and over again.
But what Father is reminding us when he says to us that it's sacred is that it's not about what you can get. It's not about you exploiting this God-given talent -- and let's not forget that it is God-given. Regardless of how great you think you are, it's really not about you. It's about what God instilled in your care. It's your duty as a musician to nurture your talent, to support and inspire it so you can give back to the world and help people.
I make it very clear to the Lovin' Life Ministry band, Sonic Cult, that we need to create a new culture. That's what Father wanted to do. There's a reason why he supported New World Players, Go World Brass Band, and Sunburst. There was even a rock and roll band called Blue Tuna, of all things. Father wanted to support all these different bands and mediums for expressing the universal language because music can be an extraordinary and powerful medium through which people can experience the divine, change their lives and become closer and more connected to God.
But Father also cautioned about the unwritten understanding: "you can't be a good musician if you don't do drugs." Our Second and Third Generation, a lot of them who are thinking about careers in music, also think they can't be great musicians if they don't do drugs. But Father is reminding all you talented young people that music is not an excuse for you to do drugs. God did not give you that gift so you can get all the women, all the chicks. God gave you that gift so you can tap into something powerful and beautiful, and change the world.
As a woman and someone who understands the power of music, I've always felt that for every young girl in the audience -- including myself, and that was a long time ago, brothers and sisters -- if you honestly ask what is the most important thing they think they could be, the majority of them will tell you, "I want to be a great mother."
What really puzzles me is that a lot of these young ladies also happen to be talented musicians who have succumbed to the understanding that in order to be a profound artist you have to do drugs. I cannot understand this because if our desire is to be the greatest mother in the world, our body is surely our temple; our body is our vessel.
The thing about women is that we are born with the eggs that in the future will become our children. We are born with a set of eggs that we will release on a monthly basis, starting at the time we become women. We are born with that set of eggs. So if you start doing drugs at 11, 12, or 13 years of age, you are already condemning your future children to a life of great difficulty.
Some of my friends in the music industry, who are beautiful, extraordinarily talented women, have put their body, their sacred temple, through substance abuse. Then, they have given birth to children who have no brain, missing one hemisphere. We're not even talking about extreme hard drugs like heroin or cocaine. We're talking about what a lot of young people nowadays think is a safe drug. We're talking pot. You start smoking pot when you're 11, 12 or 13, and you are affecting your future children who are waiting to be born. We need to start thinking ahead.
It's accepted that there are a lot of drugs in the rock and roll world, but there are a lot of drugs in the classical music world as well, many times, even more so. These are highly talented musicians, young men and women. When I see the amount of damage being done to these young ones, especially the girls, then in my mind I'm fast-forwarding two or three decades from now, when they will suffer the consequences of their actions. Twenty or thirty years from now they will be mature women wanting to establish beautiful families, wanting to raise healthy children. But because of what they did before, it will carry on and affect their children later in life.
For me, the Youth Concert is extremely important. Not only are we emphasizing in a young child's education the important of the arts, which teach discipline and the ability to set short-term goals and accomplish long-term goals, we are also claiming the opportunity to set the culture straight, to turn it around by saying that we can be all of these great things without the crutches we have been standing on for so long.
Usually when you meet great artists at the end of lives involving substance abuse, you hear something like the words of John Lennon, who was quoted toward the end of his life as saying, "There's nothing like being sober." No amount of drugs is going to make you high on life. The only thing that is going to keep us feeling high on life is our relationship with our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents.
Again, when Father says music is sacred, it's basically his call to the young people to respect music. If you think you're hot, you'd better think God is hotter, because that gift came from God. If you think you are all that, you'd better think your Heavenly Parent is all that and more, because he and she blessed you with that talent. So, respect your art. Approach it with honor, and do not abuse yourself nor the talent that has been placed in your care.
When something is sacred and holy, you want to maintain a certain level of devotion and attendance. That's where discipline kicks in. When you accept that music, art, and literature are sacred art forms, then you're approaching them with a willingness to go through the discipline to become the kind of artist you want to be. You're not going to come up on the stage of the Grand ballroom winging it. You're going to come up on the stage of the Grand having practiced.
I challenged the young people in the Youth Concert, telling them that next year when we have the Youth Concert, I would like to hear bands from all the different districts, and to have the privilege to produce an album of the top three bands that I find to be inspirational. This is a call for you to approach your craft with a heart of humility and gratitude, while also being determined that you will not just wing it or use music as a means for socially interacting with people. This is a call to understand that music is a sacred art and to really, really put yourself into it, to practice and to follow your own discipline.
The word discipline is beautiful. I've dealt with a lot of kids who are starting out in classical music. The minute children confronts the octave scales -- and the Russians like to put kids on four-octave scales -- the kids immediately say, "I can't. I can't." But the great thing about discipline is that you tell yourself to just discipline yourself each and every day, a little bit at a time. The first week, you do the first octave; next week, second octave; the week after, three octaves; and the fourth week, four octaves up and down. Before you know it, you can overcome the defeatist attitude that it's too difficult.
The arts as a training ground for teaching the importance of understanding discipline tells the kids and pushes the kids to experience that there is nothing that is impossible, nothing that we cannot do. There is nothing that can stand in the way if we decide today that we are going to give ourselves to the discipline.
When I talk about discipline, the young kids react. They may think, "Ooooh, scary, In Jin Nim is coming at us with discipline." It sounds monstrous. But the way I think about the word, "discipline" is almost like yin and yang, a positive and negative thing. This is a reminder to myself and the parents that discipline is a way to set your kids on a schedule, so they can learn to do things that are really, really difficult to do. It's almost something negative. They don't like to do it. It's distasteful. But the great thing about discipline, is that it's a system of reinforcement, enforcing what needs to be done to take this child from a piece of coal deep in the earth and turn it into a brilliant diamond.
Yes, there are some components of discipline, of enforcing to make sure they get themselves in gear, that might be painful. But discipline is also very positive and uplifting in the sense that there has to be a balance of the difficult with uplifting, positive reinforcement. If a child does his or her part in practicing 20 or 30 minutes a day, the parents clearly articulate, "Wow, you were fantastic." Why? Explain why they were fantastic. You were fantastic because you completed your 20 or 30 minutes of practice. This is discipline as much as having them sit in the chair and practice for 30 minutes.
As parents we need to help our kids understand a new way of coming to terms with this word. Discipline or a system of reinforcement is a combination of both the difficult or negative and the positive or uplifting. If we can keep on doing this as parents, reminding them of what they need to do, things they don't like to do, but also reinforcing with positive compliments why they were awesome at doing what they did on a daily basis, then before you know it the kids will come to expect the best of themselves. They will now have a framework in which they can work.
I've seen or heard a lot of examples of young people having difficulty in terms of not being able to stick to something: Parents tell me, "My kids are really talented in painting." Then I see them a couple of months later and ask, "How's the painting going?" "Oh, well, she decided now to do the computer." Okay, computer programming is great. Then a couple of months later I see them and hear, "She decided to do horseback riding." That's great too. Then later, "Now she is doing swimming."
This is where parents come in. Children need parents to create a structure, a framework in which the children can grow. If you want to plant parsley in a pot, there has to be a pot, there has to be soil. You can't just take a handful of soil, stick a seed in and say, grow. Right? You have to have a pot. The parents have to be the enforcer and the re-enforcer of the positive as well as the difficult things that need to be done to bring the kids to the true virtuosity that we know every child is capable of.
Once the child understands that his or her art and journey into this art is sacred, and he or she remembers that the art must be approached with a sense of respect and reverence, and an attitude of humbleness, then the child needs to understand the need to engulf her- or him-self in the framework of discipline provided by the parents. The parents play a pivotal and crucial role in this. The children cannot do it themselves.
That brings us to the third point, the importance of consistency. It doesn't matter how wonderful may be the framework that you provide for your kids; if you and they don't do it day in and day out, the talent that's inherent in your child will never flower, never blossom. The parents need to help the kids stay focused and consistent -- with the heart of Jeong Song, which in Korean means a certain devotion to whatever you are doing. We, as parents and children, are being consistent in our effort not just because we want to feel good about ourselves, but because God is allowing us to partake of this amazing creative force, to speak the beautiful, universal language of music and art. In order to do that you need to be consistent.
When we understand that this is the reason why teaching children by exposing them to the arts is a wonderful, wonderful thing, we realize that the lessons learned while they are perfecting their art -- lessons of being humble, understanding discipline, and being consistent -- are the traits that are the secret ingredients to any other activity or relationship in life. When a child starts on the road to becoming a musician or painter, she or he is starting a relationship with that instrument or that medium, be it the guitar, oil painting or acrylic or watercolor. The child is to learn to approach that relationship with reverence and a heart of humbleness, and to understand that making that relationship successful is going to require a great deal of discipline and consistency.
These three ingredients can be taken anywhere, in any other relationship, be it a parent-child relationship, a conjugal relationship, a brother-sister relationship, or even the relationship among colleagues. This is what creates winners out of people. I've seen it over and over again. The simple lessons learned by pushing and inspiring the kids to devote themselves to the arts can be a wonderful thing.
That is the reason why I started the Youth Concert for World Peace in Japan over 10 years ago. I'm tickled pink that now we could do the same in America. Here we are with the philosophy of living for the sake of others. How beautiful would it be if every year the money we raise through the concert -- because we want to practice and not just talk about living for the sake of others -- would be sent as a gift from America to a country of our choice for that year?
John
D. Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937)
Mr. Rockefeller said something interesting a while back: "The art of giving starts from the home." The art of giving starts from when you're very, very young. Our children need to be encouraged to give; they need to be taught to give. When I have Jaga come up every Sunday -- and he does such a fantastic job, does he not? -- and he talks about the importance of giving, that needs to be taught from a very young age. Through all the other programs we develop here at headquarters, that concept needs to be reinforced at every stage of life.
Even as we are so lucky to participate with and celebrate our musical expression in this beautiful Grand ballroom, initiating the first Youth Concert for World Peace, we must be mindful of how blessed we really are. Therefore, we should use that vocation to help somebody else in need, to help people whom we don't see every day, but whom we love nevertheless because we all belong to one family.
Brothers and sisters, we have a lot of things taking place in our movement, a lot of difficulties, and a lot of exciting things. One that really moved me so much was when Father called all the managers of True World Food Group to Las Vegas. There was a big shuffle at the headquarters in New Jersey and a great deal of pressure put on them. Of course, they would not say, "You cannot go," but they said instead that the next morning there was an international meeting, so please attend. It was implied that if they do not attend their jobs would be on the line.
But these Japanese managers moved me so greatly because when Father called them to Las Vegas, they did not care about whether they were going to have a job when they got back. They all came except one. When I see that Japanese spirit -- and there are some Westerners in there, too -- when I see our good members' spirit of wanting to totally unite with our True Parents and live as one family honoring our Heavenly Parent, I cannot help but be moved.
To think that here they are, struggling with their own individual burdens, dealing with work and the possibility that they might be fired for not showing up for the next days' round of meetings, but instead they chose to go because Father called. When your parent calls, you should go. They went. It was incredibly moving for all of us to realize how much brothers and sisters are united with our True Parents.
Can you imagine how much comfort they gave to True Parents? I believe that something like that -- a heartistic foundation of unity -- is going to translate and be taken back to the country of Japan. So even as Japan struggles with the aftermath of the tsunami, I know that that kind of heartistic unity is a great preparation for many, many great things to take place in Japan and also in America.
This Youth Concert is a great opportunity to link what we've been doing in Japan for the last 10 years to America. So in the spirit of cooperation and unity, let's inspire our youth to be the giants who will usher in this new millennium as members of the Generation of Peace. That is something incredibly exciting.
The Good Book reminds us in Psalms 55:22, "Give your burdens unto the Lord. Give up your burdens unto the Lord," just the way those managers did. When Father calls for heartistic unity, when Father teaches us a sublime understanding of what it is to be a true artist by introducing the word sacred in the whole artistic understanding of what we need to be, Father is reminding us that we are all divine beings. We have this ability to channel true love, one of the most powerful things in the universe.
It's incredible how love doesn't need a language to be understood. Music doesn't need a language to be understood. It doesn't matter if you're German, or from the Amazon forest or from the North Pole, hanging out with the Eskimos, everybody understands music and everybody understands love.
Brothers and sisters, let us remember what Father means when he says that we should understand our life, our love, and our art as something sacred. I think for many of us in the room the most difficult relationships may be those between parent and child, dealing with our own children. We're helping them through the difficult times, but come high or low we've got to know that we're not alone, and God is always with us. God is watching after our kids, and God is watching after all of us, so let us give our cares and burdens unto the Lord.
A great song a while back was "Don't Worry, Be Happy." It was the favorite of some Japanese sisters. Worry is a burden, something heavy. "Wolli" in Korean means Divine Principle. So when you are grief-stricken, when you are overcome with the burdens of the world, remember we have the Divine Principle that teaches us we are divine beings, divine and eternal sons and daughters of God put here for greatness and to honor our Heavenly Parent and True Parents with our lives. So give your burdens unto the Lord because the Lord will always take care of you.
So God bless, and have a wonderful Sunday.
0: To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.
1: Give ear to my
prayer, O God;
and hide not thyself from my supplication!
2: Attend to me, and
answer me;
I am overcome by my trouble.
I am distraught
3: by the noise of the
enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they bring
trouble upon me,
and in anger they cherish enmity against me.
4: My heart is in
anguish within me,
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5: Fear and trembling
come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.
6: And I say, "O
that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
7: yea, I would wander
afar,
I would lodge in the wilderness, [Selah]
8: I would haste to
find me a shelter
from the raging wind and tempest."
9: Destroy their plans,
O Lord, confuse their tongues;
for I see violence and strife in
the city.
10: Day and night they
go around it
on its walls;
and mischief and trouble are within
it,
11: ruin is in its
midst;
oppression and fraud
do not depart from its market
place.
12: It is not an enemy
who taunts me --
then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary
who deals insolently with me --
then I could hide from him.
13: But it is you, my
equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
14: We used to hold
sweet converse together;
within God's house we walked in
fellowship.
15: Let death come upon
them;
let them go down to Sheol alive;
let them go away in
terror into their graves.
16: But I call upon
God;
and the LORD will save me.
17: Evening and morning
and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he will hear my
voice.
18: He will deliver my
soul in safety
from the battle that I wage,
for many are
arrayed against me.
19: God will give ear,
and humble them,
he who is enthroned from of old;
because they
keep no law,
and do not fear God. [Selah]
20: My companion
stretched out his hand against his friends,
he violated his
covenant.
21: His speech was
smoother than butter,
yet war was in his heart;
his words were
softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords.
22: Cast your burden
on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the
righteous to be moved.
23: But thou, O God,
wilt cast them down
into the lowest pit;
men of blood and
treachery
shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust
in thee.
Here's a little song I
wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry, be
happy.
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry
you make it double
Don't worry, be happy.
Don't worry, be happy
now.
(Chorus)
Don't worry, be
happy. Don't worry, be happy.
Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry,
be happy.
Ain't got no place to lay your
head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don't worry, be happy.
The
landlord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don't
worry, be happy.
(Chorus)
Don't worry, be
happy. Don't worry, be happy.
Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry,
be happy.
Look at me -- I'm happy. Don't
worry, be happy.
Here I give you my phone number. When you worry,
call me,
I make you happy. Don't worry, be happy.
Ain't got no cash, ain't got no
style
Ain't got no gal to make you smile
Don't worry, be
happy.
'Cause when you worry your face will frown
And that will
bring everybody down
Don't worry, be happy.
(Chorus)
Don't worry, be
happy. Don't worry, be happy.
Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry,
be happy.
Don't worry, don't worry, don't
do it.
Be happy. Put a smile on your face.
Don't bring
everybody down.
Don't worry. It will soon pass, whatever it
is.
Don't worry, be happy.
I'm not worried, I'm happy...