The Words of In Jin Moon from 2011
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The Words of In Jin Moon from 2011 |
1) In Jin Nim greeted everyone -- expressing how much she loves the final song that the band had just played "We Are the Champions." It's a great way to start Sunday morning -- to let everyone know that we are the champions of the world.
2) In Jin Nim's eldest son Preston came back from London earlier this week. This is his reading period, the weeks when the London School of Economics students cram for their exams. She and he had a conversation about how his courses are going, the kind of people, from all over the world, that he has had the privilege to meet.
3) He was telling In Jin Nim about his experience at his school, a premier institution for higher learning. A lot of people come there because, in one sense, they want to be champions of their world, masters of the universe. Some of you who saw the movie Wall Street, Gordon gecko, and this whole understanding of greed, of all this money out there that you want to amass and control for yourself -- in essence to be the master of your universe. This is a concept that a lot of people have when they apply to business schools and schools of higher learning -- and in Preston's case he met a lot of these people.
4) In Jin Nim thought about what the word "champion" means. What should it mean to all of us who want to live our lives, not just thinking about ourselves and creating ourselves into this master of the universe type of person, but someone who aspires to do something good in the world -- people who really want to live for the sake of others and not just seek to raise ourselves up, but others along with us.
5) When In Jin Nim thought about this she was reminded of her graduate school years at Harvard many years ago. She remembers being at the library during one of the reading periods. This was a time when everyone stays up very late, many times until two or three in the morning. All these students come to get the top grade, competing with each other. You know who the smart ones are, who you need to beat to get the top grade. During this time when they were in the library, looking at each other, almost suspiciously, because the competition is so fierce and you want to graduate at the top of your class. And the people who come to Harvard are the best, valedictorians, so your classroom is not made up of average students, with a few who are really hard-working and the rest who don't really want to be there. At Harvard you're competing with people who have always been number one in their environment. So the competition is incredibly fierce and during the reading period you see students coming in with boxes of Alka-Seltzer, or a box of Pepto-Bismol -- because they need to pass the exam and get good grades. The stress level and the pressure is incredibly fierce. And In Jin Nim remembered one day, close to midnight, when a young man came storming into the library saying, "guys, guys, we are all winners!" People looked at him wondering what he was talking about. He said "guys we are all winners in that we have experienced the miracle life." And he gave a speech on how all of us are winners in that we beat out something like 300 million sperm's to turn into a zygote that eventually became us. So he was saying, "Why are we competing with each other so ferociously when we are all winners?" He did this to startle everyone and promote everyone to think -- but it also provided comic relief during their study break.
6) But it makes you wonder, if we really are winners in the most competitive race, which is for life -- and here we are as God's eternal sons and daughters -- aren't we born champions?
7) When we look at ourselves in the mirror, or look at those people seated next to us and around us, we have to realize in essence, just as Harvard University is an academic institution that has all the academic winners from around the world -- if you think about it, our world is a world of winners, of champions.
8) When we think of ourselves in that capacity, and we remind ourselves that we come from our Heavenly Parent up in heaven, and that we are His and Her eternal sons and daughters with infinite value, with a divinity flowing through our veins, we realize that we are not just mere dust in the wind -- meant to just float around the earth before we disappear into the atmosphere. We were born champions, we were born winners, meant for greatness. Not in that we ourselves are going to turn ourselves into masters of the universe, but by serving others, raising up others to be just as great and greater than us, and thereby become great ourselves.
9) When we look at the word "champion" -- consulting Webster's dictionary -- it defines champion as somebody who fights for a cause. It also defines it as somebody who is a valiant fighter, valiant meaning incredibly courageous or brave. And it also defines champion as a winner in a competition.
10) When we think about champion in the context of who we are, as God's eternal sons and daughters, those of us in the movement who are committed to our Heavenly Parents and to our True Parents (True Parents) and are committed to living for the sake of others -- and practicing that compassion, in a way we have agreed to do certain things. We have agreed to acknowledge, to be that individual in that family of many many beautiful brothers and sisters all around the world. We've agreed to acknowledge each other as divine beings. We've agreed to work together to try to create something better than how we found the world. And we've agreed to try to inspire and empower ourselves so that we can leave something beautiful and wonderful behind.
11) In Jin Nim has always talked about the importance of raising up this beautiful generation of peace. In Jin Nim looks at the word peace as an acronym -- it means several things. It means first and foremost, the letter P, we belong to our Heavenly Parent up in heaven. And the letter E, reminds us that we are eternal sons and daughters of God. The letter A, reminds us to live a life of altruism, or in the words of In Jin Nim's father "living for the sake of others." And the letter to C, the application of a compassionate lifestyle of nurture and care and empowerment so that we can truly be that eternal letter E -- excellent sons and daughters of God, not just excellent internally but excellent externally.
12) When In Jin Nim thinks about being a champion and all that it entails she thinks about Preston at the London school of economics competing with top students from all around the world -- and the interesting thing about his program is that they have many case studies of a particular corporation, of Fortune 500 companies -- what defines what an excellent leader is, what an effective organization is, what an incredible work environment is. These are all the things that they talk about and learn from doing these case studies. Preston shared with In Jin Nim about one of his symposiums -- there were a couple of people from Germany, these two young ladies who were typical MBA types, who had the best education, perfect resumes -- they looked great, they spoke wonderfully -- and they were talking about what makes a good leader. How do you run an organization in the most effective way?
13) While Preston was contemplating these questions in his mind, he was also taking note of the fact that these two young ladies were incredibly ambitious and aggressive. They not only had a razor-sharp mind, but their whole being was that they wanted to be the master of the universe. No man, no boss, no company was going to stand in their way. During one class they were presented with a situation -- a company in which the fat needs to be trimmed -- in order to have efficiency in this Corporation. The teacher asked the classroom, "what would you do?" And these two ladies jumped in, incredibly aggressively saying, "you've got to trim what you've got to trim -- with no regard to institutional knowledge, if they're too old, get rid of them. If they're not functioning, get read of them." Their quick solution was to "get rid of them, get rid of them." The teacher then questioned them, "What about for the sake of morality, is there room for compassion, is there room for care or nurture in the business, in an aggressive atmosphere such as in a Fortune 500 corporation?" And they answered, "Absolutely not! You got to do what you got to do, bottom line, if anyone gets in your way you have to get rid of them."
14) This made Preston think a little. He said to In Jin Nim, "I've realized that there are lots of people out there that are out there just for themselves -- it is really not about thinking of the good of the company, the good of the city, the good of the country, or the good of the well being of the people you care about. It's basically about what you can grab and what you can take. I found that repulsive."
15) In Jin Nim asked Preston, "Do you think that a true champion can be found in a business setting? Do you think there is room for compassion in business? Or do you think that compassion has nothing to do with money -- in other words compassion is just a very soft sell, a soft feel of nurturing and of caring, but it doesn't amount to power? Do you think that is so?"
16) The thing that In Jin Nim has realized is that the word compassion and really living for the sake of others is a profoundly powerful word. It is not one of these feel-good fuzzy-wuzzy words. As interesting as this might be, compassion can translate into great profitability in a business organization or business setting.
17) The interesting thing is the study that Jim Collins did. He wrote a book called "Goodness to Greatness" and he studies the different components of effective or compassionate business leadership. He found that there are three components. The first is affective -- meaning I feel for you. The second is a cognitive -- meaning I understand you. The third he calls the motivational -- meaning I want to help you. And he said in his findings, in his research, having studied the most effective and most competent leaders in the field of business -- he came to a few conclusions. He said, "I realize the most effective leader is what I call a level 5 leader." What he means by a level 5 leader is that this leader usually has two qualities that are incredibly obvious. Every level 5 leader has the characteristic of humility and the characteristic of great ambition -- not ambition purely for oneself, but ambition for the good of the whole. You are ambitious. You work hard. You are persistent and persevering, not just for yourself, but because you believe that the work you are doing is for the good of the whole.
18) He mentions how, in this understanding of this character of humility in a very effective business leader -- inherent in that is the affective -- I feel for you, and the cognitive -- I understand you. It's implicit in the understanding of a humble leader -- that they are not so preoccupied with themselves but they are really in tune with what people are feeling and what people want.
19) And then he says, when you look at the other characteristics of ambition, ambition for the greater good, he says that encompasses the understanding of the third component of a compassionate business leader which is motivational, in that "I want to help you." The level 5 compassionate effective business leader, believes that he needs to work hard, he needs to be ambitious for the sake of the greater good, because he believes that what he does will ultimately help you.
20) Mr. Collins encapsulates for us what might be construed as something that belongs to the realm of spirituality and the metaphysical and emotional. The word compassion is actually an incredibly powerful word that translates into extraordinary profitability when you understand it in a business setting as that word having these three components of affective, cognitive, and motivational. And then his conclusion, through years and years of research, having pinpointed the most effective leaders, trying to figure out what it is about this leader, this CEO, that truly makes them exceptional -- he found it's the combination of humility, and ambition.
21) When In Jin Nim read this she realized, "Hallelujah! This is what our True Parents are all about." They came here, humbly, to teach us, really share with us the breaking news of the Divine Principle.
22) The word compassion comes from two roots -- "com" meaning together and "pati" meaning to suffer. Somebody who is compassionate understands your suffering, understands exactly the experience that you have gone through. We can all agree that no one has suffered more than our True Parents. They understand our suffering. And the incredible thing about our True Parents being a man and a woman, not some quasi-alien that God sent our way -- but they are human beings just like us. And for them to have become champions means, just like us, they have had to deal with trials and tribulations, but with sincere devotion, commitment, and perseverance, they have become champions of the world. It gives us infinite hope that we can do the same.
23) It gives us hope that the people who understand pain and suffering, as well as joy and love -- if they can be the champions of true love it gives us infinite hope that we can also be the champions of true love. Regardless of how difficult our lives may be, of where we might find ourselves in our lives, when we think about True Parents, when we think about the kind of message that they are bringing -- and the message that they are bringing is not to just tell us that we are horrible -- they come to give us constructive criticism -- "You guys, we all fell away from God so we need to re-graft into the lineage of God. And these are the steps you need to take to re-graft yourselves." They didn't come to tell us that we are horrible. In fact they came to tell us that we are winners in that we are champions, because they teach us that we are eternal sons and daughters.
24) When they came to this great country of America in the 1970s they did not come here just to criticize the living daylights out of the Americans, but they wanted to provoke the young Americans to wake up and to not live a purposeless existence, not be swept away by the tide of sex and drugs and whatever goes. They came to share with us the message that we have infinite value and that we are champions and we can be the champions of our own destiny. But it is our responsibility to be that agent of change, to own up to the kind of person or people that we would like to be, and work. Be ambitious for the greater good.
25) A lot of people feel that religion keeps people meek, keeps people week, and keeps people hostage to the church. But if you really think about it, it is not the job of the church to keep its brothers and sisters addicted. Just as the purpose of a good hospital is to receive a patient and leave them better than we found them. They come, they seek treatment, and they go better than how we found them. And through the therapy that they received in the hospital they can do better, because they feel better. Likewise -- the church is not an institution that should be like a crutch to people. It should be a medium through which people come to understand who they are, come to feel God's love, and people come to understand that because they are inspired in knowing that we are the children of God -- we feel compelled to do the right thing for the good of the whole. In a way, the job of religion is to help us become whole, healthy, happy human beings. Just like the way the job of a mother is not to just raise the kids and keep them in the home forever -- it's to nurture the kids so that they can really grow to their potential, go out into the world, serve the world, and really make the world a better place than they found it.
26) When In Jin Nim thinks about compassionate leadership, and when she thinks about our True Parents -- the great thing about our True Parents, they are the champions of true love, they really live the philosophy that the Good Book talks about in 1 Thess. 5:11. The Bible says, "therefore encourage one another and edify one another." What does edify mean? It means to strengthen, to bolster. In a way, the Bible is reminding us to empower each other, to live encouraging others. When you are encouraging others, wanting them to be great -- the word courage comes from the French word "la couer" (the heart). When you're in the midst of living a heart centered life -- you realize that the whole purpose of your being is not just to think about yourself, but to really live for the sake of others, to encourage others.
27) When In Jin Nim thinks about the kind of people that our True Parents are, a couple of things come to mind. They are the man and woman of real love, genuine love, or true love.
28) And there are a couple of things that true love is not. Number one genuine love, true love, is not envy. When In Jin Nim thinks about the word envy -- and we know our movement is going through so many different transitions, so many generational issues, so many transferences of power and authority from one generation to another -- and whenever you are in a group setting it is a great atmosphere for lots of disgruntlement or sometimes envy or misunderstanding -- when she thinks about the word envy, in her ears when she hears the word -- it sounds to her like end. When we are engrossed in being envious, or living a life where envy becomes our God, it totally incapacitates us, it kills what our life could be, because it turns us inward and negative -- almost like rotting from within.
29) In Jin Nim remembers seeing a movie about Mozart called Amadeus. That movie so wonderfully portrayed the relationship between Mozart and Salieri the great court composer of the day. Salieri was someone who was loved by the King, commissioned by the King, wrote great works of art for the King, and was himself a fine musician. Everybody honored and loved him. Then one day this young upstart named Mozart comes and he is nothing like an angelic figure. He is rowdy, rambunctious, flirty, he is not serious -- but somehow Mozart has been touched by God. He has an incredible ability to make melodies spontaneously, extemporaneously -- the kind of melodies that Salieri can only dream about. Here was Salieri, incredibly educated, learned, distinguished -- a fixture in the king's court, suddenly finding himself being envious of this seemingly worthless, young, irresponsible, unscrupulous young upstart. The feelings of emotions started churning in his heart and mind, and as he goes about trying to compose another piece for the King -- another piece to honor God -- there is a scene in the movie in which he cries out to God, "I want to honor you with my music. Why do you bless Mozart with this incredible melody? Why do you not bless me?" So Salieri is consumed with anger, frustration, envy, jealousy -- like being stuck under this Jell-O of a mud like existence. He literally wants to kill this Mozart. But Mozart, being so carefree, so innocent, doesn't really see what Salieri is up to, what he is capable of. And so Mozart goes about his own way, expressing and manifesting his God-given talent to the dismay of Salieri.
30) In Jin Nim thinks, as difficult as it must have been for a Salieri -- you see it's the desire of every person to be that person to honor God, but the interesting thing is we don't decide who God wants to work through. We don't decide the time and place. We as God's eternal sons and daughters have infinite value and God uses us in many many different situations and in different ways -- and God did use Salieri to honor God, in praise of God with his music, giving delight to the court with his music. But then God wanted to work through Mozart. But Salieri instead of being grateful for the opportunity to have served, and an understanding that just as there are four seasons in the year -- spring, summer, fall, and winter -- can you imagine if one season said no, I refuse to turn over -- it will be forever spring, or it will be forever summer, it will be forever autumn, it will be forever winter. If that were the case we would not be able to enjoy and experience all of God's majesty and the beauty that comes through traveling through the spring when the seeds are planted, through the ripening of the fruit in the summer, to the harvest in the fall, to the preparation again for the next spring in the winter. Can you imagine if the seasons simply refused?
31) In the case of Salieri he was like a season that simply refused to see that God wants to turn over into a new season called Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. And because he could not turn over, could not let go of his desire, "I want to serve God." And that desire is wonderful, incredibly wonderful, but we also have to leave God the room to exercise who He wants to work with or who She wants to work with.
32) In a way, God was asking Mozart to now be the season. Salieri was so consumed with envy. He could not overcome the desire to, in his own words, honor God. But if you really think about it, it wasn't really about honoring God, it was about wanting to maintain his position in the court, maintain that position in the eyes of the King, maintain that position amongst the musicians that lived in the court.
33) Of course we know what happened to Mozart and his sad fate, but he was one of those rare geniuses, a gift to the world. In a way we can experience God's laughter through Mozart's music. And regardless of how many seasons come and go his music is eternal in that we know it's God speaking to us through his music.
34) One of the other things that real love, genuine love, true love is not -- real love is not self-pity. Many times we have this complex, a martyr complex -- especially in the life of a religious person -- we are not living for the sake of others, meaning we need to be alive in order to serve, but we have literally become empty carcasses, we have been dying for the sake of others. For so long, we have not been able to generate -- we have lost the connection to the outlet. We are like a light bulb that needs that electric current to shine brightly. We are like an empty carcass of a person because we can't be connected to this eternal source of life, and of hope, and of faith. So we are dying for the sake of others -- and at the same time feeling incredibly sorry for ourselves.
35) In Jin Nim remembers meeting one sister, a very very capable sister. She pulled In Jin Nim aside to talk to her -- she is doing all these things for her husband, for her children, she is bent over backward, she barely has time to bathe or feed herself, she is running around like a crazy dog without a head, "my children don't appreciate me, my husband does not appreciate me, my friends do not appreciate me, I don't know what I am anymore, I feel so empty and hollow."
36) When In Jin Nim heard this sister's story -- it was a case of self-pity. She was trying her best to really do everything she could, but she forgot to take care of herself. Regardless of how crazy life can get -- for instance in In Jin Nim's life with 5 children, when she feels herself on the edge of doing something not so good, because children have this way of taking you to the limit and back, she reminds herself of what True Mother said many years ago, "Don't forget to breathe. You have to breathe."
37) If you don't breathe -- you start out as fine music but you will turn into … like blowing into a flute, you start out beautifully, but how far can you go on one breath. You need to take a step back to give it new air, to give it new breath. Every song has a rest. Every melody has a silence. Sometimes the silence is more powerful than the actual playing of notes. We breathe in and out. But when we forget to breathe, when you forget to live for the sake of others, and suffer under this martyr complex, "I was meant to suffer, to be miserable, I could not appreciate my life because I'm a sinner." If we allow ourselves to start thinking that way then we can so easily turn into a person that does not live for the sake of others, but dies for the sake of others. And then we can fall into this trap of extreme self-pity.
38) When In Jin Nim finds herself in this predicament she switches her mind to concentrate on her father's life, our True Father's life. Here's a man who's been in and out of prison six times. He was incarcerated in a North Korean concentration camp, Hung Nam, for more than two years and eight months -- where most inmates perished after six months. This was a man who'd been through extraordinary difficulty, he's been tortured numerous times, has been thrown out from prison for dead twice in his life. If anybody could feel sorry for himself, it certainly should be True Father.
39) But the incredible thing about True Father -- he said to In Jin Nim once, "there's no time in life to feel sorry for yourself -- when we are here to do good work in service of others."
40) When In Jin Nim thinks about her father and mother together, her father's message -- saying that there is no time to think about your self pity, other than to think about other people, and her mother's guidance to her -- don't forget to breathe. This means taking their message in a holistic way -- we have to find the balanced way to deal with our religious life and our family life -- in that instead of succumbing to this martyr complex, and feeling incredible self-pity, we need to start thinking, instead of self-pity we should be grateful. Because whatever we're going through, we are doing it to make the world a better place. As long as we remember to breathe, as long as we can take a step back, and take two steps forward, take a step back, take two steps forward -- yes, maybe too slowly, but we will certainly get to our destination and goal alive and not dead.
41) Another thing that true love is not, is this need to constantly tear somebody down. In Jin Nim was having lunch with some of her friends. This is a place where people go to have power lunches. She was seated at a table with a couple of woman and two gentlemen. Then a beautiful lady walked into the restaurant and was seated. The interesting thing was, the men at the table were greatly admiring this beautiful woman. But the ladies at the table had the need to tear this woman down, "That hair cannot possibly be natural blonde. She must torture herself at the gym six days a week, five hours a day, that must be all that she does. I bet she doesn't touch anything on her plate. Let's watch what she eats." As In Jin Nim was watching she wandered why do we have this need to tear a beautiful masterpiece down. If someone is beautiful or handsome we should be happy for them. Thank God there are some handsome and beautiful people in the world. "Imagine if the whole world looked like me. How boring."
42) Why do we feel the need to tear the person down. We feel the need to tear them down because we are not practicing or experiencing real genuine love. We are tearing that person down because we feel threatened, and our insecurities have been pushed into play and so we have to attack back by clawing them down.
43) When we think about all these characteristics of what true love is not, true love is not envious, it is not self-pitying, it is not tearing down. These are all qualities that we as parents, when we truly love our children, that we honestly can say we don't feel -- and we would never be envious of our children. We want them to be far better than us. We don't want to be self pitying and turn on our martyr complex so that our children feel the weight of that. We don't want to become sinkers to our children when we want them to fly and sore and become incredible men and women of God. We as parents would not tear down our children -- we would not stay, "you're not a natural blonde. You look good because you're on that insanity program five hours a day." When our children are healthy, and they look good, they're good at sports, great at music, good in scholastics -- we are so proud of them and we want to talk good things about them. "Grandfather look what your grandson did, look what your granddaughter did." Would we call to our parents and say, "look how horrible your grandson is, look how superficial your granddaughter is?" You don't do that. Because we genuinely love our children, with real genuine affection.
44) If we realize that these are the characteristics -- envious, self-pity, having the desire to tear someone down, that are not the characteristics of true love, then we realize, when we think about what we talked about earlier -- the compassionate and effective business leaders. When Jim Collins talks about three components of being affective, cognitive, motivational -- that I feel for you, I understand you, I wish well for you, in a way if you think about it the characteristics of real love, when it is transposed onto this understanding of compassion in a business setting of all settings, you realize that when you are an affective leader, you're feeling "I feel for you" you are not an envious leader in that you are sincerely happy for the prosperity, not envious of someone else's accomplishments, because you feel for them.
45) Talking about the other component, being cognitive -- I understand you, this understanding can be understood as someone who is not self pitying, not a martyr complex, in that we know that we are eternal sons and daughters with infinite value -- so we have no room to feel sorry for ourselves when we should be concentrating on all the great things that we will be doing.
46) And when we think about the motivational component of a compassionate business leader -- it's very much like someone who practices real love, in that we don't feel the need to tear people down. An effective, compassionate, great leader has no desire to tear people down in his or her organization. If you really believe that you are there to help others to be in service of the organization, is to be in service of the very employees that work for that leader.
47) If we can understand that regardless of where we might be in life, for instance when we contemplate on this word compassion -- and many of us thought that compassion is a very weak, meek word -- a little bit of nurture here, a little bit of care there, but can it translate into great profitability, something that can make great money for the organization? -- In Jin Nim would have to say absolutely. When we can raise up a generation of peace, future leaders that can be alive, leaders like Jim Collins talks about, the future generation leaders that have within them the humility and the ambition to do great things.
48) In order to be a great son and daughter of God, to be that excellent son and daughter of God, means internally and externally excellent, the combination of both. Being a man and woman of religion does not mean that we are so humble that we don't do anything. We need to be humble internally, in understanding who we are and where we stand vis-à-vis everybody else, but knowing that we have infinite potential and knowing that we are divine sons and daughters, we have a duty to be that great son and daughter. We should be ambitious, be willing to work hard, willing to forgo short-term gratification because we want to accomplish something great, we want to accomplish or build a world that is better than when we found it. If we can raise up young men and women, to really understand that the religious life is not just for people who want to live a soulful or spiritual life, but a religious life and an understanding of who we are in relation to God, is just as important as wanting to be a lawyer, a doctor, or anything else in the world. The ingredient for success, humility and ambition -- not selfish ambition, the master of the universe type, but ambition that you want to work hard for the greater good -- these two qualities you find anywhere, not just in business, not just in law, not just in literature, in the arts, but everywhere.
49) If we can inspire our children -- this is the kind of leader we need to be, because we have been given this incredible thing called life, to be living at this time, at this time of the breaking news, together with our True Parents. Our True Parents are here as the living example of what real true genuine love is all about. If we have them as a living example can we not be just as good and may be do even better, and more, so that we can make them proud of us?
50) When the Good Book says encourage each other, edify each other -- encourage means empower those around you, empower the ones you work with. And edify them, means strengthen them, build them up -- not tear them down. If every person can decide today to be this kind of a compassionate leader in their life, or in their career, success is built in. Success has everything to do with how we understand ourselves, how we view ourselves, and knowing that we are here in service of others. We are here to practice living for the sake of others.
51) We have a lot of great things that we will be accomplishing this year, and again In Jin Nim would like to thank all the District Pastors and State Leaders around the country who have joined with her and are really creating the sense of unity as we embark on another 40 day prayer condition. And we as the Unification Church, are really a medium through which the world will begin to see. Unification Church, unified family, Unification Church -- the world will begin to see when they start discovering our movement and all of you. And the world will begin to see when they discover our True Parents.
52) "Spread the breaking news brothers and sisters! And have a blessed Sunday and God bless you!"