Book Five - Earthly Life And The Spirit World
Chapter Six - Our Position in Relation to the Spirit World
Section 1. The Fruit of Life and the Divine Spirit

Our lifetime is but a moment. This lifetime will determine whether we are connected to eternity or to the moment. If the current lifestyle is extended, it could go on indefinitely. On the other hand, if it is broken, from that point on a new heaven and earth unfolds. Like a scale, some go up and some go down.

You all are the historically resurrected bodies of your ancestors, wearing their faces. How long is this history? It is said to be hundreds of thousands of years old. The purpose of this long, arduous course of history was to eventually create one person -- you. For example, to create one such person from the Kim family, countless ancestors came and went. Thus, we are the fruits of human history.

Would you like fruit if it had big holes eaten through it by worms? Would you like apples with dark seeds easily rolling out when you cut them in half, or those with sticky seeds stuck to the core? If you were opened, do you think a well-ripened seed would come out? Are you sure that your second generation will become a heavenly fruit? If your heart was cut open, do you think that a well-ripened Unification Church member would come out?

Would it be all right for this substantial fruit of six thousand years to fall without ripening, like a fruit dropping from its tree? Should the fruit, worrying that the wind might blow, say, "Oh no, it looks like I might fall. If the wind blows a bit more, I am going to fall. Father, don't shake me, just let me be still." There may be some people here who are like that. On the other hand, there are members saying, "Even if you take an ax and shake the branches as you please, my branches will never fall until they have been cut." To which group do you belong? (46-154, 1971.8.13)

We know that birth, marriage and death are important stages in our life. In order for individuals to bear fruit after their birth and having grown up, they must establish a bond with their partner, thereafter walking a path together until the end. The same holds true for a nation; it also has a period to lay its foundations, followed by a period of prosperity, after which it must go through an evening-like period.

When individuals become life spirits, they must have some content that allows life to bear fruit within them. If they do not, when the fruiting season arrives, they will not be able to see fruition.

For this reason, we must overcome our circumstances. Not only that, we must also inherit all the conditions that can bear fruit, thereby possessing the inherent strength that generates that fruition. Only then can we complete the process of fruition, becoming a fruit needed for the progress of a new social and historical course.

After birth, people must overcome their circumstances on their own. They must undergo a process through which they can inherit new life and bear fruit in the future. Finally, they must occupy a place where they can manifest the proper effects and results. For example, after grain is sown, it germinates, matures, bears fruit, and is then harvested and stored by the owner. We too must undergo a process whereby we can be harvested for a certain purpose.

You must understand that you are responsible to equip yourselves with the inner conditions which will permit you to inherit such hopes and to use those conditions to embrace the external environment. This must be accomplished not from a position of self-defense, but by taking the initiative.

Consider the persimmon tree that blooms in spring. Its flowers are not particularly colorful compared to other flowers. Their color is similar to that of the tree's leaves. For this reason, with a casual glance you would not notice the flowers. Later, while the fruit is growing, because of the dense blanket of green foliage, you cannot easily tell whether there is fruit or not. The green leaves are so bright and fresh that it is hard to tell whether or not the tree has fruit. When summer turns to autumn, the persimmon's color begins to change. As they ripen, both the inside and outside turn orange. Then you see them hanging radiantly on the tree even after all of the leaves have fallen.

It is similar with Unification Church members. Looking at the Unification Church, if the t970s are said to be the fruiting season, then all the leaf-like elements should disappear. Just as the persimmon fruit exposed on a bare branch can possess the value of the entire tree, the question is whether we can become like that fruit.

Such fruit does not need any advertisement. By looking at the fruit itself, anyone could evaluate it one hundred percent inside and out. How much labor would the persimmon tree have to expend until it could perfect itself by bearing its fruit through this process? We must understand that until this fruit was perfected from among the numerous flowers that bloomed on the tree's branches, it suffered and made more effort than any other type of fruit. We must understand that it overcame all kinds of environmental ordeals which could have caused it to fall: adverse circumstances like lack of nourishment that would prevent ripening and the ordeals of summer with its buffeting winds, rain, and storms.

If that tree could bear only one fruit, that lone fruit would contain the combined sap and external fight-to-live qualities of that entire tree. Only that kind of fruit could remain. If only one fruit remained on that tree, it would represent the value of the entire tree. In the case of a persimmon tree, that one persimmon would justify the value of that tree when autumn came, and save its dignity and authority.

If many flowers bloomed and much fruit ripened on a tree, but it all rotted and the tree could not bear fruit in the autumn, that tree, with its barren branches, would be so very miserable and sorrowful! If that tree could not bear much fruit, but bore just one that was beyond comparison with those of any other tree, it would stand proud of that one fruit before myriads of other trees.

There are numerous religions in our present society. Numerous denominations exist in Christianity alone. Amidst this reality, looking at the Unification Church in its fruiting season, God is asking for a certain fruit from it. As I have mentioned, even though a tree should bear much fruit, yet only bore one so perfect as to be unsurpassed by any other fruit from that tree, that tree can find its value, authority, and dignity through that one fruit.

Likewise, the Unification Church must bear fruit. Starting from its establishment until now, our church has undergone acute hardships and ordeals while advancing toward its fruition. The critical issue here is the quality of the fruit it will bear. From this perspective, you should be able to check whether you have indeed experienced a normal spring, normal summer and normal autumn and whether you can bear a fully ripe fruit.

Looking at the fruit itself, we find within it the properties to produce branches, leaves, roots, and seeds. If we picked a fruit, it could be considered that we possessed that entire tree. Since that fruit has many seeds, with that fruit we stand in a position to possess tens or hundreds of trees. The fruit of a tree should inherit all the essential elements of life that the tree has to bequeath, be it ten or twenty years old. Only then is a perfect fruit harvested.

While the fruit is growing, its essential elements should never be severed. It should be left undisturbed to grow continuously. From the day its life began until the time it is harvested by the owner and kept in storage, the essential elements should never be disconnected, not even once. Whether it is windy -- or worse still, stormy, they must not be disconnected no matter what hardships may come. These essential elements must be retained without interruption, from beginning to end.

From this perspective, after venturing on the path of faith, you must have all felt new life, new ecstasy, and new hope springing up within yourselves. From the day you resolve to become such trees, or people of such character, all the inner essential elements that are being prepared for the harvest season in autumn must be retained without interruption. Without a process to solidify and add something as the days go by, a fully ripened fruit cannot emerge. (36-10, 1970.11.8)