Every Sunday and on the first of the month we recite the Pledge of the Children, especially the fifth paragraph. That paragraph begins, "I am proud of the one sovereignty." It lists what we are proud of: the one people, the one land, the one language and culture centered upon God, becoming the child of the one True Parent, the family who is to inherit one tradition, and being a laborer who is working to establish the one world of the heart.

If you are asked, "Who are you, and where are you going?" what would you answer? Blessed wives might be likely to answer, 'Well, I never thought much about it. I'm going toward my husband, whom I've just met, and I don't know so much about him." The husband might say, "Well, for the time being I'm going toward my wife and afterwards, I'll do my best." When you are asked what you are seeking you might reply that you don't desire much more, you are content with what you have, a person who cares about you. That is how most people live. That is not a wrong answer; it is partially true, but it is not all we seek.

Until now you were told not to hold hands as brothers and sisters, but after the Blessing things change. In fact, to fulfill married life, you must hold hands, kiss each other, and go to bed together! Your situation has changed a lot. Along with that, some of you might start hoping for some position, some money, and some power. You start longing for lots of material possessions. To some extent that is inevitable, but there is something beyond that.

If you had a great treasure, where would you store it? You would probably want a safe place but still somewhere readily accessible. Instead of asking another person to guard it, you would probably want to keep it in your home.

Where is your home? Is it the house you are renting now? Many people come to the United States: some come on business, some as tourists, some become permanent residents and even citizens. They may have an apartment in this country, but is this country home or is home their land of origin? Home becomes more difficult to define. There is a popular saying in the United States that home is where you hang your hat, but that definition is not satisfactory. We need a more stable, permanent home, a place where we can dwell for eternity. You might call it your hometown, or your native land.

You want to live in your original hometown, in a house that you can call home. But your original home includes not just you and your spouse but also your parents. You may be living in the United States with your spouse and children but you miss your home town because there you find your parents, your brothers and sisters, and your relatives, including your third, fourth and fifth cousins. In Korea we count relatives as far as the eighth degree.

Before our relatives came into being, an environment already existed. That is our homeland, the source of our relatives. Where would your relatives like to live? If you ask this country where it would like to be located it might say, "How do I know? I had no choice in the matter, I happen to be here." That might be the best answer the United States could give. But it would be better to long to be situated as close as possible to the place of origin. Thousands of years ago the United States did not exist; it is a rather young country. But the world has been around a long time. Different races and peoples branched out of their homeland and came to places like America and settled down.

Michael, one of the security guards at East Garden who accompanied me to England, seldom expresses personal desires or opinions. He is very quiet and fulfills his responsibility without speaking much. One day he came to me apologetically and asked if he could visit Ireland. He had never made such a request before, so I asked him why he wanted to go there, since we had not yet seen other parts of Great Britain, including Scotland and Wales. "Because that's where my ancestors came from," he replied

This young man's relatives had been in the United States for generations, but he couldn't help wanting to seek his origins. He thought that by going to Ireland he could feel one step closer to his native land. His mind was seeking something which he didn't fully understand, but he knew that somewhere he would find something closer to his homeland. Even Americans want to return to their place of origin. People came from all over the world to the United States, so in that sense the world's existence is more real than the United States' existence.

If you ask the world where it would like to be, it would ultimately answer that it wants to return to its original ancestors: Adam, Eve, and God Himself. Since Adam and Eve and God are the root, the world wants to return to its root.

Picture a very tall tree with a tiny leaf hanging on to its top. If you ask the leaf where it would like to be, it might reply that the question had never come up and that it is satisfied with where it happens to be, at the top. But if the leaf is a little smarter it would travel in its imagination down the tree, through the trunk, and all the way down to the deepest roots and realize that rather than existing by itself it is sustained by its neighboring leaves, branches, trunk and even the roots. Since all those elements keep sending nourishment to the leaf, it would want to pay visits here and there to see how all the elements that support its existence are doing. A smart leaf would think like that.

A tree is an interconnected whole, just as is mankind. All of us are like leaves of a vast universal tree. We would like to visit each country. We realize that although customs vary, still each person is part of the same universe and comes from the same origin. Because our fatherland is the same we share the same roots. Isn't that how you feel? You would like to visit all the various places in this world, wouldn't you? Furthermore, our world is not only horizontal but vertical, and when we become aware of the vertical aspect, we would like to go there too.

When you get married you want to visit not only your own hometown, but also that of your spouse. You wouldn't demand that your spouse, visit your hometown and refuse to visit his or hers. You want to go there because you are equally interested in his origins.

After you have been everywhere you have to settle down somewhere to live and raise your family -- but where? Fundamentally, you want to stay in the center because that is where all things are connected.

In order to bisect a circle, for instance, a line must pass through the center. If you are at the center nothing bypasses you; everything goes through you and you are aware of everything that goes on. You are linked to everything.

What is the most important part of a tree? When you look at a tree and appreciate its beauty what part do you focus on? Do you admire the leaves? The branches? The roots? I don't know about Westerners, but Orientals evaluate a tree's beauty by its trunk. If you compare God, mankind and the universe to a tree, who is the root? God. Who Is the trunk? Someone answered True Parents.

A young tree has roots, trunk and leaves, but they are small and fragile. Even though the trunk is flimsy, still it is the center. When a tree is very tiny the distance between the roots and the leaves is very small; they are practically neighbors. But as the tree develops and matures, the trunk and branches grow; every year the branches become a few inches longer. As the tree grows up, the roots also penetrate deeper. Suddenly the roots become aware that the leaves which had been its neighbors have grown and are separated by a long distance. Do you think the roots would min the leaves and wish they could come back and stay closer to it, or would the roots focus only on penetrating deeper and deeper into the soil? Don't you think the root would somehow miss the leaves? One tree may boast of being taller, another of having better branches, another of having more leaves, another of healthier roots; but the true quality of a tree lies in the connection among all the parts.

The typical American married couple today doesn't care much about leaves and branches; people don't know much about their roots or origins. Men and women just focus on each other. "We will live together and die together, just the two of us, leaning on each other," the husband and wife think. "That is all we care about and all we want." Can such people claim to enjoy the greatest happiness? No. For two people to be able to get along harmoniously with each other is a very good thing; a lot of people don't even achieve that. But theirs is not the ultimate happiness because while they may be able to connect with each other, they cannot be the center for linking all other things. The center has to be aware of all the far-flung elements that need to pass through it. Those who are hundreds or thousands of miles off to one extreme certainly cannot be the center.

A couple may appear content and free from worries about children, free from concerns about pleasing their parents and making sure the parents are happy. You wouldn't mind looking as fortunate as they do! But if you really look at them closely, theirs is not a truly happy state, because they are not at the center. Is it good for a couple to live a carefree life, just enjoying each other? If it is not good, do you know why? Goodness needs to be defined.

For husband and wife to focus just on each other is parasitic because they are living off others. We all depend on other elements. All mankind, including such a couple, is indebted to the universe. Man represents heaven and woman earth, and all parts of heaven should freely pass through them and connect in them. That is how we were created to live. The universe supports us in every way, giving us air, water, food and love. But a self-centered couple returns nothing to the universe; they are not even aware of what they are receiving. Because their awareness is confined to themselves, they are not functioning as the center through which everything is supposed to connect.

In order to be healthy, grow, develop and bear fruit, all parts of the tree need to be properly interconnected. The center should be excited about being the center and help nutrients pass up and down and back and forth through it. It must help the traffic flow in order to become fruitful. Although it is important for the different parts of the tree to have proper give and take and fulfill the function of the center, there is an ultimate goal: to bear fruit. What is the fruits? Of all the parts of the tree, the fruit is closest to the original form. By bearing fruit, the tree completes a cycle. No matter how big a tree becomes, it started from one seed. The roots, trunk, branches and leaves grew from that one origin and produce a beautiful fruit. The fruit bears the seed. The tree sprouted from a seed and returns to a seed.

The process of development is not a straight line. Development expands in ever larger circles out from one central point. In a tree, for instance, the roots reach an ever greater depth and extent, while the branches and leaves reach higher and wider. Each growing cycle creates bigger and bigger circles. At first the distance from trunk to root tip or branch tip is small, but each cycle increases the span.

All this growth requires a lot of action, but by its very nature action is never produced by an individual. It always takes two: a subject and an object.

Women seek men and men seek women for the same reason: to develop. Knowing all this, can you say that a husband and wife should care only about each other and nothing else? Are you sure that is not the ideal pattern of development?

If I ask an individual if he or she would like to develop, the inevitable answer is yes. People would like to develop to the extent of forming a country-and not just a small one, but a large one. Everybody is ambitious. Is there a limit to development? You would not be content to occupy just a small comer of humanity; you would want everything to come within your embrace.

For a married couple, development means having children. You may have questions about other things, but whether or not you want to have children shouldn't be an issue. Let's say you have children, would you be so concerned about their safety that you would want to keep them in your bosom forever and never let them go? No, you want your children to go through a course of development too. The mother and father naturally want their children to be healthy, grow and reach out to the world.

Parents long for their children to grow faster so they can quickly extend out to the world. Parents tell their children, "We and your brothers and sisters enjoy being with you, but we would much rather that you develop yourself for the sake of the world. That is what we are here for." Parents don't want to keep their grown children at their side for the sake of their own happiness, ignoring the larger world; they want them to go out. Even though they miss them, parents encourage their children to go out and develop and become greater people.

Would you prefer to have only one child, so you don't have to worry about how to support him or her? You might think that you are capable of raising two children-perhaps three, if you -try harder. Or would you like to have four, five, six, seven children? Soon you will face this problem.

I began by talking about the fatherland. Now you are married. After you start your family and children come, you may have so many children that you can form a country! If you are going to have children anyway, would you like to have lots of them so you can expand your embrace to a big country-or would you be content with just a small country? You are so greedy! You aspire to big things; you look for what is good, you want the center. It's a difficult task, but do you mind going through difficulty? Do you prefer the easy way or the hard way?

Among American couples it has become fashionable to consider raising children a nuisance. People think that since they have only a short life to live, they should marry and enjoy each other as much as they can, without having children. But back to the former question, which is better: to have lots of children or no children? Even though it is a simple question, you should understand whether it is good or bad to have children. You think it's good, but how good is it?

You say you want to be at the center, but what geometric form do you aspire to be the center of? Those who want to have children may be content with just one son and one daughter. That means just two lines connect through you; at best you can define only four positions and create only a quadrilateral. But a circle is a more ideal form -than a square. Your eyes, your face, and even your body resemble a circle. All movement, all sports, all vigorous activities form a circle. Circular movement is the most efficient because it consumes the least energy; a ball is easier to push than a cube, for instance. Two lines drawn through a center can define a four-aided figure. If you draw another line through the center, you can define a six-aided figure; a hexagon is much closer to a circle than a square-and much easier to roll. The more lines you draw through the center the closer your come to defining a circle.

I have 13 children, and sometimes I think of each one as a month. I have January, February, March, April, etc. There are 12, one for each month, and a 13th, representing the center. When you think about the 12 months of the year, do you visualize them stretched out in a line or joined in a circle? They are like a circle, aren't they? Even more than a circle, they are like a sphere.

You Unification Church members know how to draw a flat circle, but I am hoping somehow to coax you into drawing a sphere. Is that a bad idea? Even outside people can understand our approach more easily if we explain that True Parents focus on transforming flat circles into spheres. It takes True Parents to do that. If you talk about your father and mother everyone can identify with your concern, but in the Unification Church we talk about True Father and True Mother because we are seeking the ideal. Those who are not seeking the ideal are content with just parents.

If you are ever going to roll, would you want to roll in just one direction or in all possible directions? Ideally, a ball revolves very smoothly; the bottom rotates to the top and the top to the bottom. No matter what position you may be in temporarily, you can keep revolving without being hurt. Now you can draw your own conclusion to the question of whether lots of children are preferable over a limited number.

Someone came to one of our international itinerant workers and boasted of a couple that after 30 years of marriage had multiplied into a clan of 300. Would you like to have 300 descendants, or 3000? Why is it so precious to have many descendants?

Why are people constantly seeking to increase themselves? It must be because our origin is so big. Is God big or tiny? He is infinitely vast. If God is so big His love must also be boundless. If God has power it must also be tremendous. If God could have money His wealth would be incalculable. We all prize knowledge for we couldn't live without it, but God's knowledge must be far more comprehensive than ours.

Let's come back to you. What would you like to possess? (God!) You are good students. But what would you do with God? Why do you long for God so much? If I somehow arranged it that you could have your desire, could you receive such a vast God?

Suppose we were talking about a diamond. If I offered you a large diamond and you had only a small place for storing valuables, would you be able to handle the gift? You might say with confidence that you want to own God, but I would say in return, "Okay, you can have God, but what are you going to do with Him? How would you accommodate Him? Do you have a sheet large enough to wrap around Him?" If you ask me how big my container is, I would answer that it is large enough to contain God hundreds of times over!

Actually, your mind is so big that if you want to accommodate God you could -- with room to spare. Because your mind is infinite, you are always seeking more and more things to fill it up. I have won over all of you by this answer. I can defeat you in a race of thinking The amazing is that no matter how tiny your body may be, your mind is big enough that, if you want to, you can accommodate God and still have a lot of room to spare!

How big do you think God's mind is? We can only imagine it, but it is at least big enough that all four billion people on this earth and their minds could be rolled up into one huge ball and stuck into it --and hardly fill it! Do you suppose that God's mind has lots more available space, or would it be almost filled to capacity? When we realize that it has lots more room we can feel at peace. At least I feel at peace. If I were worried about heaven being too small I would not feel good. But with your help, we have reasoned it out that God's mind is immense, and so is heaven, so my worry is resolved.

Like a good pitcher, I toss everything to God and He catches every single ball, even the big ones, in His mitt. For hundreds and thousands of years, God has been catching balls and His mind still hasn't filled up. There is room to spare.

How big a mind do you want? Of course, we have some limits, but wouldn't you like to have a mind as big as God's? Well, not as big has His, of course, but you want it to be as big as possible. Your mind desires that, doesn't it? You certainly did not create such a mind, so where did it come from? From God. Why would God give you a selfish mind? God had a valid purpose in giving us such a huge mind. You were born with such a mind, and even if you try to throw it away, you could not. If you resolved to throw that mind away, it would return to you the next moment. You might keep trying to get rid of it, but it would keep returning to you. So you must realize that you cannot help but live harmoniously with your mind. You can't be successful if you try to keep pushing that mind down, for it will constantly spring back up to you.

Unlike your physical body, you will carry your mind over into the spirit world. It won't go away as you shed your physical body but will remain forever and ever in the spirit world-and be far freer. You may wonder when your mind will be liberated. When your mind is no longer confined, it will stretch out and exclaim, "Now I have gotten everything I wanted. I have fulfilled everything. I am satisfied. I can do anything I want to without restriction." Our minds are in prison now. When will they be liberated? What shall we do to break out of this prison?

Let's examine the mind more closely. Is the mind of a man exactly like that of a woman? It's important to know how they differ. Let's look first at a woman's mind. Consider the interactions among three beings: God, man and woman. Would the woman reach out for God first and then the man, or would she reach first for the man and then God? Think about your answer. If you say you are reaching out first to God, have you caught Him yet?

Before deciding what the woman should do, let's consider God. Would God reach out first to the woman or to the man? It is important to know this answer also. Let's reason this out. We know that God is fair. Think really hard about it. If God reaches out for the man first, someone will sniffle and complain. Women know how to complain, don't they? On the other hand, if God reaches out to the woman first the man will complain, because men are not exempt from jealousy. Actually, men are more greedy than women-greedy like a thief! So the only possible solution is that God must have two hands and extend a hand to each one and bring them together. According to the Principle, this is inevitable.

Let's return to my question about whether the woman should reach out first to God or to the man. Would God want the woman to reach out to Him first, or to become completely united with the man and then both reach out to God together? You have a hard time answering! This is like a primary school question, and I thought you Moonies were a lot smarter than that. When man and woman are completely united, God's love appears.

Have you seen God? Have you seen God's love? Can you find love in God? Suppose I were to say that there is no love in God, and you protest that there is, how could you prove your assertion? To state that love can be found in God is correct, but the reasoning that leads to such a conclusion must also be correct.

The Bible clearly states that God created man and woman in His image. As a man and a woman become intimate and experience great love for each other, we can deduce that God too must have the same kind of love, because we have essentially the same qualities as God. Because we are in God's image, we have the same aspects He has. Since we have love, God must have love. Isn't that simple enough? In essence, what difference would there be between human love and divine love? Wouldn't their essence be the same? If it were different, we would repel each other. But since the essence of love is the same, it tends to draw us closer together and bring us into unity.

Why does a man seek the right woman and a woman the right man? A woman reaches out to a man so she can contact God and dwell in God through him. The man does the same; only through finding a woman and becoming one with her can a man have God. In essence, we possess God through love. Suppose you possess God's mind, God's love, and God's everything, would you need anything else? As far as you are concerned, when God fills you up, you lack nothing, you want nothing more.

God's mind is big, but if His mind is filled with you that means your mind is also big. Your mind has never been fully satisfied, has it? It's so big, once you possess God I think that more likely than not, your mind will be full.

If you love a man with genuine love and someone offers to trade the entire United States for him, would you accept the offer? You say no, but perhaps the United States is too small for you, so would you trade your beloved for the world? Well, what about something of unlimited magnitude; would you trade your beloved for God? That is a hard question, isn't it? You might reply that if the negotiator threw love into the bargain, along with God, you might trade. You wouldn't trade your beloved for God alone, but you might do it for God and God's love together! Do you want to know why this would be a good exchange? Actually, God wouldn't know what to do with your beloved, so He would just give him back to you! When you understand this point, then you can graduate.

The almighty God already has the world and everything in it, so why did He go through so much effort to create people? You say for love, but so what? God could enjoy all the love He wants, since there's nothing He cannot do if He is omnipotent. So why did God create human beings? If you saw God off by Himself rolling around on the ground convulsed in laughter, what would you think? Even if it was God you saw doing that, you would feel troubled. You know that an individual cannot love in solitude. Man cannot love without a woman and a woman cannot love without a man. So why did God make people? To fulfill love. A person cannot love by himself; an object is needed for give and take of love. That was God's very purpose in creating man and woman.

Unfortunately, Christianity and other major religions teach that God is divine and the supreme being, and that people are sinful and mortal. They teach that God and mankind are on two different planes that cannot be connected.

God's love is always reaching out to others. God's love was to be expressed in Adam and Eve. Wherever a pure man and a pure woman are completely united, God will automatically be found. That is why God created us. When a husband and wife achieve such a bond and conceive a child, all three can go to heaven directly. Such people don't need sermons and prayers.

Let half of a circle represent Gods mind and the other half represent mankind. Mankind consists of men and women, and if you analyze God further you find two elements, positive and negative or plus and minus, which resemble men and women. Within God plus and minus elements have give and take and their interaction forms the basis for God's existence. God's dominant characteristics are manifested in man and the subordinate characteristics in woman. What was the purpose behind that? For true love.

The core of love is true love. Vertical and horizontal, plus and minus intersect at that center. All of us were born with a mind as big as God's so we could encompass a being such as Him, for God longs to encompass everything.

We like to see precision products, but even a large machine always has some uneven surfaces. The action of true love, however, seals all the crevices and smoothes all the irregularities until a perfect circle is formed. True love can go anywhere because of its shape; it flows wherever an opening exists. It can penetrate the physical and spiritual worlds equally well. True love knows no boundaries.

When true love touches you, it ignites you. No matter how strong the dosage, you savor it. You become so filled with true love it's almost like being drunk with it, Maybe the analogy of being intoxicated makes it easier to understand! You see, when every part of you is numb with contentment-however you may phrase it-you are full, you are satisfied. Every one of your billions of cells is relaxed and happy, brimming with God's true love. How about that! You can experience this wonderful love forever. Eternity is possible only in connection with love. Nothing else lasts forever. Love is eternity.

Would you like me to say something about the spirit world? But if I go into that subject, you will really lose your balance!

We can talk about science, religion, or a lot of things, but no other topic can compare with love. Love is interesting and satisfying. Needless to say, love has been very, very misused, so people are even afraid to express love! Still, you have done a very good job of understanding it. Here in the United States I have been talking about true love, but love is not unheard of in America; in fact, it's everywhere. Surrounded by free sex and all different types of love, how do you know which is true love? Does each type get an equal chance? We can come to the unmistakable conclusion that true love is the love between a man and woman that attracts the presence of God.

Does God's love change according to the four seasons? Of course not. God's love is constant. The four seasons come and go, but the center of love cannot vary. It retains the same quality, the same essence, the same form. The love that people talk about is a kind of love, yes, but when it strays further and further from God and becomes &in it is no longer love. Two days ago I explained that original sin was caused by illicit love. Illicit love is unlawful; it transgresses the cosmic law. Not only mankind but all creation comes under the jurisdiction of cosmic law. Illicit love caused the original sin. Do you understand?

True love can erase original sin. There is a constant struggle between your desire to overcome sin and sin's determination not to give in. Unfortunately, promiscuity is widely practiced in the United States. When something other than original true love prevails God must leave. Many parents have come to realize that Moonies are pursuing true love. If they are going to say you are wrong, they should come up with a good reason to substantiate that conclusion. If people continue too long being promiscuous, even the universe will expel them! The universe will repel those who continually violate God's law.

Unification Church members possess a very deep truth. Other people may not comprehend when you try to tell them these things. You may not even realize it, but every single one of you is equipped with this understanding, plus a powerful reasoning ability.

Take the Blessing, for instance. People came to this wedding because they are searching for true love. One reason we form interracial couples is that a white person's domain is extended when he or she can go through the centerline and reach out to the opposite world, such as the world of black people. People who marry someone from their own race are more limited, while interracial couples have a broader domain of freedom. Americans wonder why democracy cannot be the center through which everyone should pass, but it so happens that it is not.

When husband and wife from different races come together, they can reach out for a more ideal experience of God's love. You may be at the North Pole and be able to relate to your immediate vicinity, but if you want to reach the opposite pole you must go through the center. When you meet your opposite at the center point your thinking and ideals become more elevated, reaching up to God. This was God's original plan before the fall, but people have dosed their doors to it, not realizing its value. How wonderful it is that we can get married in order to serve the world and live in harmony with God!

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