Absolutism Inherited - Un Jin Moon

Unofficial notes by Wonho Woo from Un Jin Nim's God's Day midnight speech in Boulder, Colorado. 1/1/95

We see that everything is changing with fast food and fast cars. Wherever we look, TV has taken over, computers have taken over. The reality of the world is that if you don't keep up you are left behind. Even in elementary school, children are taught about alternative lifestyles. They are taught about sex even before they know what that means.

Being a daughter of True Parents and a mother, I wonder what kind of world will exist when my children grow up and go to school. This is our reality as CARP members. A lot of you have not received the blessing. It is a very interesting time in your life when your hormones are taking over, it is a very confused state of being. Because everything is so fast-paced, there is no sense of responsibility for our actions. What one does with one's life is not so sacred.

In America where capitalism reigns, people spend more money on fashion than on changing themselves. Think about the money that could be used to help the poor. The newest fad is plastic surgery-to change your appearance. It seems that more men are concerned about how they look. It is such a superficial world that we live in. Ultimately it has to do with love, but love that is false and superficial. This is a big concern. People of Howard Self or Mike Balcomb's (1st) generation know what it means to have a tradition. People today don't have a concept of tradition-something that is sacred. Today everything is relative.

In liberal education, you become more confused after you graduate than before you started, and once you become confused you are considered well educated. What is it that we have that makes us so unique and sacred? To the second generation, what makes them different, what makes you different? We all have the same appearance.

If we look at human history, it is a history of struggle. It has always been a fight between one entity and another. Ultimately it boils down to the division between the mind and body. Basically, the purpose of religion was to be a tool to unite our mind and body. Saints were considered to be holy because they tried to disregard their bodies by making their bodies suffer. They knew that their body has been used to dominate their mind.

Unificationism has this same notion. If you take the whole Principle and bring it down to its essence, it is overcoming the body with the mind. It is easy to understand but hard to realize. Father said that we have all the answers in our own mind. Father said that the conscience is even above God. To say that conscience is above God is amazingly revolutionary. If you ask what is right and what is wrong, you know. When you don't want to get up at 4am, you say, "Oh, maybe just a half-hour longer." But at that moment your body takes over. Why is that? Are we so evil? We have inherited what is not of God, and yet because we are God's children we still know what is right.

I can see a time when all of us are reading Father's speeches and know what is right and what is wrong without anyone preaching. You all hold the key to be the teachers. You are all born with the answers to your questions. It matters how you are dwelling in and finding the answers. When you were 15, what was it like? You had emotional problems, you thought why you had to take out the garbage-you were thinking about the clothes to wear the next day.

At 15, Father determined to live for the sake of God, and he discovered the truth. He lived for 60 years for God's will, and still today he lives for God's will. I stand here only as a witness of what I have seen of True Parents. I don't think I could do justice to the suffering they have endured and are still receiving. They never sway and never give up, and the harder it gets the harder they push. As soon as it is 4am, Father gets us. As soon as He gets up, he listens to the Divine Principle speeches. Father asks that his speeches be written down. I can't tell you what that must be like. People say, "Oh, he can do it because he is not a man but a superman. He is endowed with greatness that is superhuman." No, Father is a man just like you and me. True Parents are just as human as we are. The difference is that they made the determination to unite mind and body.

That is why habits are so scary and powerful. God's word to Adam and Eve was a simple word. And just by disobeying that commandment, look at the world that we are living in today. At a young age, you are curious about the opposite sex. It tempts you to lose your virginity. But then it is gone, and you live with the guilt. You never forget your first love. Once you've lost that, you lose it forever. Smoking and drug habits start very innocently and naively-you take one drink. Habits increase in increments and they get worse. Once you are an addict you are always an addict. Habits are very simple. Very innocently, you can destroy your life.

As you know, Father went to prison six times. I am 27, and Father went to prison at my age. It is remarkable to recall what it was like to be in prison. There are witnesses who confess that Father only ate half the bowl of rice and fishbone soup. He did it not just to be altruistic. He said that if he could eat half the ration, then he could truly survive with a full bowl of rice.

They tried to torture him by blowing him up with a hose. The lesson is: where there is a will, there is a way. If we use only 5% of the brain, imagine if we used 80%. You yourself make the limits. We hold the answers in our own minds. It matters how much you are willing to listen to that.

In 1995, we should look to ourselves more to find answers. What do I want to give to my children. Can you say that when you look back on your life you are proud to have lived the life you did? All of you are so young. It is so refreshing to see young people. I think that 1995 is a great year, and I believe that we can really make a difference. The time is really ripe to make a difference. Four years ago, when we were preaching VOC, they thought that we were nuts.

There is nothing that we should be ashamed of. We are not a cult, there is nothing to hide, and we are darn proud of who we are. If you don't live the life of the Principle, how can you show the rest of the world? There is nothing wrong with being ambitious, but for what purpose do we want to better ourselves. Is it to have an ego trip, to say, "Wow, look what I have done." As young members, you need a strong foundation. The reality is that we have the wonderful Principle, but our children are starving. We don't have the best clothes, or home.

As a representative of the 2nd generation, they say that we have faith, but that does not better our reality. Am I going to better myself, get a good education, and think about myself? What makes us different? How can we say that we hare here to better ourselves? We are being hypocrites, then. There is a short-term and a long-term way of looking at things. The way we plan our lives is short-term. We think to live a day at a time. We don't think to live 100 or 1000 years from now. We don't think how my actions would affect my grandchildren.

Yes, spiritually we are different, but physically we do the exact same things. Let us reevaluate this. Father told the 2nd generation that they stand in the position of Cain, and must unite with True Children who are in the Abel position. And they together must absolutely unite with Mother. As 2nd generation, you can make a difference, but I see them limp. What is going on is that there is nothing out there to beat us anymore. Why are we so scared? Make a goal, and stick to that goal, see how you can stick to that goal, and continue it for 10 or 20 years. Absolutism can be achieved, it has been accomplished. This is a wake-up call!

Many of you haven't met True Parents. You are thinking: how can I make an impact on this world. You want to test your ambitions and limitations. This is free reign, you hold all the keys. You have peers who are just as determined to create a world which is united and which transcends race-a world where we can all live happily ever after. All of us hold that. Now all that matters is holding it and practicing it. A lot of you are from Russia. What Russians can offer to Americans is so precious. It is an ideology. The ideology failed, but that notion of having an ideology is so precious. Americans are more addicted to their bodies. Once Russians learned that if they have a belief and can stick it out, then they can accomplish things-they have a fire. Once you have that kind of drive, you can't lose it. It's a matter of just rekindling it. Once you have that kind of fire, don't lose it.

I am confessing to you, that I am quite impressed to see the camaraderie among people who represent the whole world. It is refreshing because it is just what we need. It is really a time of the 2nd generation; we don't come with the baggage and resentment. It matter how much we are willing to follow that. Please ask God what it is that you want and need, and stick to it, making a new determination for the new year. Thank you very much.

Reprinted from American Neighborhood.