Report from England

Young Oon Kim
July 6, 1965
London, England

My dear Family in the world, thank you for your prayers. I hope you are all well in spirit and body. I never pray for the work in England until I finish praying for each one of you. At times of frustration, loneliness, hunger and fatigue, I send comfort and strength to those who are working hard. In this way, I was comforted and strengthened.

I visited the secretary of the Church Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies. She said flatly, "We don't recognize new revelation because we are Christians and have the final revelation." Then I visited the Vice Chairman of this group, Canon Pearce-Higgins at his residence.

He asked me if I believed that Jesus was God and if I was expecting Jesus to come back. if so, he would not even listen to me any more.

He said it was the greatest nonsense to believe these things. To a clergyman like him, we don't need to lecture Christology and Second Advent at all!

I called on Mr. Donald Groom, of the Quaker Peace Committee, and introduced myself and our Leader as the George Fox of the 20th Century. This expression struck him, and he introduced me to a study group of mixed ages. I gave an address of introduction of our movement in Korea and elsewhere, and the main difference of our message from the teachings of other religions including Christianity. Fourteen people were present and they said my speech was the most stimulating talk they had ever heard. They immediately decided to have four more meetings with me. I lectured for two hours at a time and covered the entire message. The leader of this group and a few others want to study by themselves with the text after I leave. They will continue to communicate with me.

An even greater joy for me was to have found Mr. Groom who has worked in India for 21 years closely with Gandhi in the Freedom from Hunger campaign. Mr. Groom said. "Why didn't you let me know you were coming six months ago. Then I could have arranged for you to speak to all the Quaker centers in England and Scotland. When you come back, let me know six months in advance.'' He has left on a speaking tour in America and Canada. He is a very important person, and is known as the English Gandhi. He sent me a letter in which he said, "It has been a wonderful experience to be with you, and you can count on my being with you in the future."

I went to Bristol to speak to a study group called the Brandon Society. I expected about 25 people, but only 6 turned out. Afterwards one of them, an Anglican, said, "If you had explained your message in Buddhist terms, I would have accepted all; but since you used conventional Christian terminology, I can't accept it, although I agree with what you have said." There are many people who have left the Church of England. They just don't like to hear any more Biblical exposition.

Even those who still participate in communion services are sick and tired of Biblical explanation. Others in that group seemed to be stimulated, but I was unable to stay long enough to teach them more.

Then I went to Bath and spoke to a conference of the Fellowship of Friends of Truth. About 20 people of various faiths were present, two East Indian men among them. They were so stimulated that they wanted to study with me two weeks later in Birmingham. I went to Birmingham on June 26th and 27th, lectured for five hours each day, and covered the entire message. Fifteen were there including the two Indians, one of whom is a graduate student of Birmingham University.

The other, Mr. Ben Sharma, is a disciple of Sri Vinoba Bhave who is the successor to Gandhi and is putting into practice the ideal of Gandhi. At the end of the lecture, Ben said, "I have never heard such a beautiful explanation of the Bible in the churches." Being a dedicated Hindu, he held my hands firmly and said, "We are one doing the same work." He invited me to India to meet his master Vinoba. Some others also responded positively. They took the text of DP for further study.

I lectured to a small group of four in the north of London who are Rudolf Steiner's followers. They are also studying the text.

I have been lecturing to another small group of four in southwest London. Three of them are quite positive, and one is a trance medium who testified to me and my work so wonderfully.

I spoke at the College of Psychic Science which is an institute for middle-aged men and women to study psychic science. Thirty-four were present, and three groups wanted to hear more. Further meetings were arranged with each one of the groups.

Canon Pearce-Higgins was present at this meeting, and was quite excited and wanted me to speak to his group. The Churches Fellowship has over 1000 membership within churches. A few days later, Canon Pearce-Higgins gathered together in his home an Anglican priest, a Methodist minister, and a woman who is the chairman of Study of Mysticism.

I talked for over two hours. Their response was most wonderful, and all took the text to study. They want to meet again to ask questions before I leave. It was important to speak to them in their language which was quite familiar to me.

I also spoke to a local group of this Church Fellowship. Ten old people were present and understood very well.

I called on J.G. Bennett who introduced Subud of Indonesia to the Western world, and spoke to his group of 35 people. They were stirred and asked me back to give another talk. Between these engagements, I have visited many individuals and spoken to them privately. Also I have been quite busy and exhausted in collecting visas from various consulates.

My work in England has developed in three stages; in the first stage, I got acquainted with people by calling on them personally or attending various meetings. In this way, I made known why I am here and stimulated them at least to have information about our spiritual movement. In the second stage, I presented general information about our movement and stressed the difference of our message from other teachings, the urgency of this time, and challenged them to inquire more seriously. In the third stage, I lectured the Divine Principle and showed the unique feature of the truth and our movement, and caused them to read and study by themselves. Also I impressed them in such a way as to have a link with us in the future, and urged them to think and pray about the Principle, and wait and see instead of judging and denying it quickly.

A young woman came to a meeting where I was going to give a talk, but she did not know who I was. She said, "I heard of a spiritual teacher from Korea. I would like so much to meet her and learn from her." I smiled and said, "This is she!" She jumped up and held both my hands and said, "I am so happy to meet you!"

Thanks to those who have written me. I deeply appreciate your lovely letters. Please accept this as my reply. I just don't have time to reply individually.

My love to you all.