Book Fourteen - A Life Of True Filial Piety
Chapter Three - The Way of Loyalty and Filial Piety
Section 3. The True and Unconditional Filial Child

Your grandfather and grandmother may spit at you, your mother may ignore you and your brothers may treat you with indifference, but still you should take care of your grandparents and pay attention to all the rest of the family. When you can give in this way, and forget that you have given, you will then take your place among the ranks of filial children that will be remembered by successive generations.

Someone who says, "I am a filial child. I am doing this and that to become a filial child" is a fake filial child. People who live for others and forget that they have done so will take their places among the ranks of filial children.

What kind of person is a patriot? It is someone who, among all the cabinet members, prepares rice cakes and other things and brings them to the king out of love. It is someone who, seeing the attendants of the king and queen fail in their responsibility, will not sit still but rather points out the failing and does a better job in performing those duties. He will teach them to create a more conducive working environment and then forget about having done all that. You should not say "That's good enough", but instead, "I have to do even better." Why is this? It is because there is a king of a country greater than Korea. It is because on earth there is the Son of Heaven, the Prince of the Heavenly Nation. To be a patriot who would limit himself to merely be a representative of an earthly domain called Korea would not satisfy our ambitions. (204-94, 1990.7.1)

The heavenly mind of those who are devoted to their parents is drawn into the parents in the same way that the blood flows from the heart through the arteries and returns to it through the veins. If the family stands at the top, then the power of love based on heavenly principles flows out through the arteries and returns through the veins. You do not see it; it just moves naturally. Does the blood flow in the veins by being pulled up on its own or by being pushed up? It is pushed up. Similarly, even if you do not want to receive the blessing, you will. It is like being in the blood stream where even if you resist, you will gradually moved into the big heart. Even if you do not want any blessing, blessings will certainly come to you. That is why you have to do your best to fulfill your filial duty.

The Unification Church teaches people to fulfill their filial duty. If you do not have a mother or father that you can be dutiful to, then live for the country. When your country is in danger, then you have to fulfill your duty to your country even if it means leaving your mother and father behind. If your mother and father oppose you, then secretly pack your bags and go to the front line. If you die there, you have fulfilled your duties of filial piety and loyalty. (147-306, 1986.10.1)

People generally tend to become dejected by the difficulties they encounter. A patriot cannot do that. A filial child also should not do this. If your spouse dies, or your child dies, you should not grab hold of them with tears. A true leader cannot do this. A true patriot cannot disclose his sorry situation. Therefore, even if your sadness is piercing your heart, you cannot show your tears.

You may not have the opportunity to commiserate with the king, but if you stand in the position of goodness with the mind of beings who are more than parents and who feel greater sorrow than the king then Heaven will then teach you what to do. When we think about this from the position of filial sons and daughters, then even if you are sad, you should not be sad because of your own sadness. If you feel resentful, you should not decide to take revenge on your enemy. (18-252, 1967.6.11)

The filial child is the person who can accept what he dislikes more than what he likes. The person who sacrifices his precious love in order to fulfill his filial duty to his parents will be able to go anywhere in Heaven, and if there are twelve pearly gates, then not one of them will be blocked to him. All the gates will be wide open. When my son Heung-jin died, I sent him to the spirit world and decided that Jesus should be called the Old Christ and Heung-jin should be called the New Christ. This is how it has turned out. (163-264, 1987.5.1)

You should love grandfathers and grandmothers as the representatives of your country in order to relieve the anguish of not having been able to love Jesus, and to relieve the anguish of God. Everyone in the Unification Church has to do this. By loving these grandparents, you must love what the grandparents of the nation, grandparents of the church, and grandparents of the family failed to love. In this manner, representing these three stages, you must love with the bond of heart felt between brothers and sisters who are ready to fulfill their responsibility of loyalty and filial piety. (1971.1.16)

A father who is filial to his own father will want his own son to be even more filial than he is. Only then, can the grandfather and father be able to close their eyes peacefully when they die. The heart that is able to make the son suffer even more than I have is the heart of love for the son.

This goes without saying. By doing this, then together we have to comfort God, who has been suffering for us. Because a father needs such children as his successors, he lets them carry out their filial duty to such a degree that he could not forget it even after his death. That is why I impose great hardship on you.

I am a stingy person when it comes to my personal life. I do not know how to spend money on myself I am not a person who will go to a restaurant to eat alone when I am hungry and I also advise Mother about what to eat and wear. (43-60, 1971.4.18)

Parents with a filial child are people who can relate to and live for their loving filial child. No third party can interfere in this relationship. This is why God sends His loving child to the position of death and then turns a blind eye to what is happening -- this act allows Heaven to bring forth a true filial child and establish a deep relationship as a final condition that cannot be violated by Satan or people who act deviously. This is the heart of God who is trying to restore people who have become unfilial; and it is the guiding method that God uses to re-establish the duty of filial piety. This is surely true. (62-47, 1972.9.10)

Filial sons and daughters should have more worries than their parents. To become children of filial piety, they must display greater concern than their parents, and they must do so in every regard. (155-253, 1965.10.31)

Jesus became a servant of servants in front of God, and then he was crucified and died. A person is said to be righteous when he dies for his country in the wretched position of a servant of servants. A person who dies for his country is a patriot. If a person humbles himself as a servant of servants and is grateful to serve his parents, then that person receives the title of being a filial child.

This is the highest point of morality in the human world, the core point. It is essential that you understand that this is the core point. In this we can realize that, rather than living a public life for God, becoming a servant is the way to become a more righteous man. Rather than being a servant for your country, becoming a servant in a worse position than an ordinary servant is the way to become a more patriot. Rather than living for your parents, sacrificing yourself in the position of a servant is the way to become a filial child. (88-294, 1976.10.3)

Who should be called and recognized as true filial children and patriots in the providence of God? Does the richest man in America deserve these titles? What about people who drop flyers out of a plane with the message "Believe in Jesus!" but who have the attitude, "Believe it or not, it's up to you"? Who do you think is closer to God, someone dropping flyers out of a plane or someone praying deeply and holding onto each person, individually distributing those flyers tearfully and with trembling hands? (155-261, 1965.10.31)

In conclusion, there is nothing odd about being filial children. They are simply people who love their parents with absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. True patriots emerge by absolutely believing in the king and absolutely believing in the people. They absolutely love them and invest themselves totally in the well being of the king and the people of the nation. (270-156, 1995.5.29)