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CSG 8.1
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1In leading a life of faith, you cannot be a spectator. You follow me, but you should not practice your life of faith centered on me; you have to practice it centered on yourself. So you must preserve your way of faith irrespective of what others do. A life of faith centered on Heaven is a life of gratitude and contentment in the deepest sphere of the heart, unlike any experience you may have with a person who is close to you. Our life of faith should be such that, no matter how evil the world may be, we can look at heaven and earth and say, "I am grateful; I am happy'' If we cannot feel this way, then in this sad circumstance, we must determine ourselves anew and pray, "I am a sinner. Please grant me the courage I lack."
2With faith, nothing is impossible. We need faith. We need to think, "The prime subject partner is God and I am His object partner. The perfect plus creates the perfect minus. Hence I was created to reach the position of a second God, second Jesus and second True Parent, and I can attain this position." You may wonder how I am able to undertake worldwide activities by myself, alone. It is because I have this kind of philosophy, and because I work on the national level. Thus you need to clearly promise me, "We will inherit your philosophy and live according to it!"
3I have brought four great truths to the world of faith. First, I clarified the relationship between God and human beings. I also gave a clear explanation about the portion of human responsibility and indemnity -- things that no one in history had known about before. We did not know why human beings are as they are today. I made this point clear. I then explained why life is difficult for conscientious people, while evil people live well. No one has known about the law of indemnity or the problem of Cain and Abel. Finally I explained why, even though people seek goodness, situations often get worse, little by little. This is an issue of lineage; it is due to our blood being tainted by Satan. This question has been unresolved due to the fundamental ignorance concerning the problem of lineage. All the problems of the world are related to the issue of lineage.
4A life of faith until now has been a quest to find the true self. It has been a quest to rise from the position of fallen Adam and Eve and create the original sinless self. Now, what is God's ultimate wish? First, it is for sinless individuals to form families based on His love. Then through such families whom God can love, the tribe, the nation and the world can be redeemed. This is God's overarching Will.
5Heaven made limitless efforts to enable us, human beings living with our earthly human hopes, to go over the peak of death with new hope and to live with reverence for the eternal world. Therefore, people who live a life of faith should not live embracing only our earthly hopes but should live dreaming of the eternal world of hope that can conquer even death. To achieve this aim, we practice our life of faith continuously.
6Anyone who can experience God's heart, so that he or she feels every shock and impulse within Heaven's sphere of heart, is unstoppable. No matter what kind of persecution he or she faces, even walking the way of death, such a person would be relentless. This heart touches the mind and moves the body. Devout believers in this secular world today, walking step by step through their daily lives, are thus advancing toward the infinite realm, even if they don't realize it.
7God does not want Christians with a life of faith that puts their denomination first. Even though I put up the signboard of the Unification Church, my concern is, "When will I be able to take it down?" Although you may be identified as Unification Church members, the question is, when will this type of identification cease in this land of Korea? Unification Church members all over the world are exerting their utmost effort to relieve God's sorrowful heart. With devoted and loyal hearts, these members walk a path of tribulation in God's place. Unification Church members with the highest level of resolve are ready to sacrifice themselves for this work. This is a blessed path to be on.
8It is with grave concern that God looks upon your notion of faith. If I were not on this earth, I wonder how many of you would remain. I bet a fight would break out. I am looking at you and wondering, how many among you are willing to die for God's Will? You have to be serious about this. You need to reflect on the issue of how much devotion you have offered for your wife and children in your family, and how much devotion you have offered for the members of your church.
9A person who is unable to sow seeds of compassion will not have an enduring life of faith. The same applies to me. Even though it was because of my public position that I was late for a service, I enter with prayer. There are times when I am unable to attend Sunday service. Whenever this happens, I offer a prayer of repentance. The members put their faith in me and offer sincere devotions, seeking for blessings and solutions to life-or-death situations. So, as the person bearing the subject partner responsibility for the members, if I am unable to attend a Sunday service, I offer a prayer asking for forgiveness. Such prayers are necessary.
10We need to sacrifice and advance for the sake of the world. The time required to achieve a goal will be reduced in proportion to the sacrifice made by the person seeking to achieve that goal -- the amount of sacrifice offered for the sake of the object partner. We in Korea must live for the sake of Korea, but if Korea is unwilling to live for the sake of the world, we must live for the sake of the world. By raising people or descendants who share my faith and philosophy, and by establishing a foundation whereby my philosophy can be bequeathed to posterity for tens of thousands of generations, Unification Thought will be the thought that engenders a new global culture. This is my view, and it is God's view.
11You need to have zest in your life of faith. In the past, when I sent you out to the countryside to witness, I used to visit the Tongil business two or three times every day. I also visited Chung Pyung every other day. What was the purpose of having such a hectic schedule? I had a zest for the work. I could feel what ordinary people could not feel. In that situation, when I offered devotions going from place to place, all the cells of my soul became alive, generating spiritual power. We need this kind of experience. Thus whether it rains or snows, we need zest in our life of faith.
12The Lord comes to this earth to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth. What kind of place is the kingdom of heaven? It is where those people go who are qualified to attend the Lord and who successfully lead lives of attendance. The kingdom of heaven is the world where, before the entire universe, we can be eternally proud of preparing and actualizing a life of attendance. Do you know what people are doing in the kingdom of heaven? Some may think it is simply a place to play and walk around, but it is not so. Even to play and walk around, you must have made preparations and real-life conditions. However, people often pray for blessings without making any real effort. Therein lies the primary reason that divinely inspired people have difficulties as they advance. Even tremendous grace from God will not last beyond seven years.
13Expecting blessings unconditionally is not true faith. What then must we do to receive blessings? All humankind on earth today descended from Adam over the course of six thousand biblical years. Our hearts should reach the standard where we can tearfully embrace all the people of the world. Otherwise we cannot establish a connection with this world. This means that when you see a pitiful beggar, your heart aches unbearably; when you see a person with shabby garments, you cannot dress fashionably; when you see a hungry person, you cannot eat. Your heart cannot seek personal comfort when you are concerned about others.
14There are two types of religious people in the world. One type is those who hide their shortcomings and seek material comforts, blessings and the welfare of their own religious denomination or people. Religions that focus on receiving blessings will disappear. Since we came to know this, the Unification Church emphasizes personal sacrifice to help God and liberate Him. What is to be achieved through unification? It is the liberation of God. Originally the true God, in the ideal world under His dominion, would have sung songs of praise and happiness with the first human ancestors, who would have attended Him. But instead, because of God's miserable situation, we seek to liberate Him. This is an amazing plan. That such an idea has emerged in the realm of religion is tremendously joyful news to God.
15A life of faith is about resolving the issue of death while on earth. You may not know much about convicts on death row but I know well, having lived with them. You have no idea how serious such convicts become when facing death. When a holiday such as Chuseok approaches, those convicts reflect on it as if it were the last Chuseok in history. When the wind blows or a typhoon hits, they observe it in the same way. They say, "This typhoon will be the last one I experience while I am on earth." They spend their last days looking at all things with a serious heart, a new feeling and a new appreciation. Among those people who walk the path of faith, I wonder how many have such a serious attitude, and how many value their life as a divine life and face each day with new resolve. This is an important question. Because I am in this serious place, I keep going this way.
16Faith means living in attendance to God, living together with God and attending Him. If we do not walk such a path, we feel uneasy. We feel physically uncomfortable and we meet obstacles in our environment. A life of faith is a life of living together with God and attending Him. The sun rises in the morning, reaches its zenith at noon and sets in the evening. This is unchanging. It will not change in tens of thousands of years. If an orbit goes awry, everything goes awry. We need to go out and find the mind of love, the path of true love. The person who inherits true life and true lineage becomes part of God's family and always lives with God. Living with God also means living happily with nature and coming and going happily in our daily lives.
17In our lives of faith, there is the communal life of faith and the individual life of faith. In the communal life of faith, it is possible to receive shared grace, but it is difficult to receive personal grace. In order to receive personal grace, we must lead a life that is close to God. Accordingly, our devout prayers and constant daily efforts to come closer to God lead to greater depth of faith.
18In order to undertake a mission in the Unification Church, you need to renew your determination as a person of faith. Before that, it is important that the center of your faith is well grounded. You will be unable to practice a life of faith that can manage the world if you do not realize that the center of your faith is even more important than the world. You will also be unable to identify the attributes of faith. If you want to climb to the top of a mountain, you have to be ready to climb despite the conditions. Similarly, you should undertake a major action only after confirming again and again in your mind that you are going the right way. Otherwise you should not undertake such an action, and before you take the first step you have to strengthen your resolve ten thousand times. If you do this, you will be able to resolve whatever crises you face as you go forward. That is a life of faith.
19A life of faith is not aimless. A life of faith is like gathering the equipment required to reach a mountaintop, the summit of the highest peak. Hence when faced with an obstacle we should not make a detour around it. Instead we should proceed through the obstacle. When faced with hardships, we should determine not to give up, and be ready to face even greater difficulties. With an indomitable spirit we should strive to discover the subjective self that can digest all difficulties.
20People pursue lives of faith in the belief that they will prevent evil and leave a legacy of goodness. What is humanity's greatest hope? It is to become beings of perfect goodness. It is written in the Bible, Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect." As the absolute subject partner of love, God's greatest desire is for human beings to stand as His object partners of love. Human beings too want to be beings of goodness as object partners to God. As the subject of goodness, God does not want His object partner to be suffering in under the yoke of evil, accused by Satan. There is no doubt about this. Thus as the absolute subject of goodness, God wants people to be absolute objects of goodness. Was this God's wish from our very birth? Of course. After our birth, does God want us to live that way throughout our lives? Yes, of course. God has always wished that we would be good and will always wish this.
21Faith means believing in and reverently attending God. Where is the endpoint of such faith? Where is the final destination of the faith that endures all, overcomes all? It is the place where we can jump on top of God and take a ride. It is the place where, more than attending God, even if we held onto His hair and danced on Him He would say with delight, "Good, keep on dancing!" That is the endpoint of our faith; we need to rise to that level. In this sense, there is nothing you cannot believe in. If you have such a foundation, there is nothing that is beyond the grasp of faith.
22In the Unification Church we attend God as the object of reverence in our daily lives, and we promote harmony and unity based on God's love. This was my motivation for founding the Unification Church. Our religion began on the best theoretical foundation. It is not a wild fantasy. From its inception, the Unification Church presented concrete substance.
23A life of attendance means that, even after living this way for a thousand years, you still do not think about yourself. You should not think, "I have spent decades in the Unification Church attending Reverend Moon." I don't like that kind of person. I myself have forgotten everything I have done in attending God so far. When you continue on, forgetting everything, a greater life of attendance awaits you. God is like that too.
24A person of faith should pray with a public mind, for a greater cause. Then how can such work unfold horizontally? We should not merely daydream about this; we need creative ventures that can make it real. Hence as people of faith, we need to struggle endlessly with our environment and strive to realize our ideals through innovative lives. A life of faith means the way of the greatest pioneer, the way of the greatest warrior and the way of the greatest evangelist. Such achievements lead to the way of the greatest victor. This is the life of faith we must lead.
25We should believe in ourselves, place our hope in ourselves and love ourselves so we can say to God, "Dear God, please accept my love, please rejoice at my hope and in my faith." When I do so, God should be able to respond, "Yes!" This is the aim of our faith, the purpose of our hope and the reason we long for love. If we achieve this, we will meet the Lord, and thereafter we will live with Him.
26The issue lies not in the small mistakes you make here and there but in whether you can go forward with absolute faith and obedience to God. If you do not have results, take heart and have hope. Having hope requires absolute faith and a record of striving to achieve results. Representing all men in the world, I have to overcome a path of tribulation greater than that experienced by anyone in history. I came with authority certified by the spiritual and physical worlds, but you did not. Hence if you have no accomplishments, you can get by with faith. What kind of faith should it be? It cannot be self-centered faith that is pleasing only to you. Even if you accomplish the Will with such faith, God will not like it. The more you insist on doing things your own way, the more you distance yourself from God and from me. It is not right to say, "I will do what I like and not what I dislike." God has to like what you do. That is where the real issue lies. The same applies to me. This is why I exhort you to have faith, even though you may not practice it as you should. If you believe, you can get by.
27Unification Church members absolutely need to believe in my words. They need to seek hope and faith as they did in the past. In those days members may not have known the entire providence yet they moved forward, filled with hope and longing for love. So even if you are unable to reach a certain place on your path, you can still believe in my words, have faith in God's love and advance according to my guidance. There is no other way. You need to go through this course. Even if you may be victorious on the individual and family levels and receive God's blessing on those levels, you must keep going through the levels of the tribe, people, nation, world and cosmos. Overall, you need to go up through seven levels. You need to pass through seven stages to reach God. There are seven summits altogether. To reach God we must have absolute faith in God. Whatever God orders, we must absolutely obey.
28Some people say they will begin their life of faith when they grow old, that they will go to heaven by having faith when they come close to death. They couldn't be further from the truth. You cannot go to heaven that way. The time when you begin your life centered on God is important. If you begin your life of faith in your twilight years, it amounts to having spent a lifetime betraying God. In that case you have to repent proportionally to your betrayal. Those who persist in saying that when they are old they will somehow have faith and then go to heaven are foolish.
29Some members here have lived a life of faith knowing God's Will for only one year, others for more than ten years or half a lifetime. The issue then is whether you have stood still, made progress or retreated. You need to clearly know where you stand and then you can go over the next hill. You may have made significant progress in the past, but if you are at a standstill today, God's living vitality cannot be with you and you cannot maintain a loving relationship with God. You may have made tremendously positive strides in the past, moving forward with boundless value, boundless vitality and the boundless power of love, but if you are now at a standstill you are already separated from God.
30Repentance is absolutely necessary for fallen humanity to enter God's realm of life and love. If one hundred points worth of sins have accumulated through our ancestors up to now, that much greater effort and repentance is needed. Hence when we speak of our life of faith, we cannot leave out repentance. We were born through countless generations of ancestors. If our ancestors were good, then as their descendants we will automatically be within reach of God's realm of life. However, if we have evil ancestors, we will find ourselves far removed from God's realm of life. For a person who is distant from God's realm of life to draw near to it, a period of repentance that outweighs the evils committed by his or her ancestors is absolutely necessary. Unless this person completes this task, he or she will be unable to access a world of vitality greater than his or her own. Because of this, the path of faith requires heartfelt tears of repentance.
31If you have been living a life of faith for ten years, you should have had some experience of struggling to unite with God's heart in those years. If you experienced great joy while carrying out a particular mission, that should stimulate you so that one day you will completely fulfill your task. This idea should be deeply embedded in your heart, so that when you are surrounded with difficulties you can say, "When the spring comes, I will exert myself one more time for this, to the farthest reaches of heaven. Wait and see. When that time comes, I will do this." We need such conviction.
32Faith is necessary to provide the motivation for action. When the Bible teaches us where to find the kingdom of heaven, it does not say merely to believe in it; rather it teaches that the kingdom of heaven lies within us. That heaven is within us does not mean that the subject partner's position depends on the world of the object partner. I determine the kind of subject partner I will be. It is clear that human beings have the impetus that determines this.
33You need to apply the faith you have learned, either spiritually or through me, in your endeavors. Where you do so, there the kingdom of heaven will unfold. When we look at this centered on God, we are in the second position and our environment is in the third position. There are three stages -- formation, growth and completion. Since I am in the central position, I can perfect heaven and also perfect the world. Thus in the Bible, the second position is always a problem. Whose position is the second position? When looking at God and the created universe, it is the human beings' position.
34The human being is the connector among three points on a line. Therefore when human beings reach perfection, we will also witness the perfection of God and the universe. Thus in my pioneering course, what I need absolutely is spiritual experience and practice in coordinating these two worlds. If spiritual experience refers to the spirit, practice refers to the truth; if we call spiritual experience the right hand, practice is the left. When I perfectly align spiritual experience with practice, I emerge as a son of God representing the entire universe.
35You need to have some accomplishments. The issue is whether at least one person on a battlefield achieves noteworthy results. I am not interested in worthless practices. As representatives of God, our families and our nation, we must shed blood in the fight to obtain results worthy of respect. We cannot do this while laughing. However, when we go forward with life-or-death determination, results commensurate with our efforts will naturally emerge. Now is the time to invest our best abilities and leave a legacy of achievements.
1It is dangerous to fall into a routine life of faith. Such a life of faith becomes a condition for Satan, who is always busy trying to find reasons to accuse us. As people walk the path of restoration, Satan does not want to yield even one person. He continually looks for any opportunity to invade people by any means or method. In this sense, strict religious precepts are beneficial. When individuals fulfill indemnity conditions, Satan can be separated from them on the individual level. However, Satan may again invade on the family level, the tribal level or the national level. If you lead a worldly life guided by habit, you will tend to get easily caught up in a conventional lifestyle that is not a true way of life. It is better for you to unceasingly practice true love and sacrifice yourself for others, for only then can you overcome Satan. Accordingly, although it may be difficult, when you practice the way of righteousness for the public good, you can experience tremendous fulfillment. We all need to lead such lives.
2We human beings have a conscience and a physical body. The more we are pulled by the body, the more the body dominates us and the more its desires control our life, the less powerful our center will be. If we follow the desires of the body, we will be pulled down to the point where the sphere of our conscience dwindles to zero. However, if we control the desires of the body, we can grow in our vertical faith. We have not yet grown spiritually to reach the standard of perfection before God. In order to reach that level, we need to do our utmost to offer conditions of devotion greater than any worldly love. Only when we invest greater love for God than our love for the world can we reach the completion level of the growth stage. Then by fulfilling our portion of responsibility centering on the realm of oneness, we can pass beyond the jurisdiction of the indirect dominion into God's direct dominion, the realm of perfection. This view is based on the Principle.
3The purer the religion, the stricter it is toward the body. For example, among Christians, Catholic priests and nuns lead celibate lives. This means they are expected to sacrifice themselves in order to serve others more. Christians encourage each other with ideas such as, "Seek to become the cornerstone, not just a brick in the upper wall," or "Become a pillar that holds up walls, not an ornamental facade on the gate." The Bible's teachings all go against the desires of the body. We cannot let our fallen mind and body do whatever they want to. This is why we do the opposite of what delights the body. It is because only then can the desires of the body be mastered. The highest and purest religion is the one that is best at leading believers away from bodily desires.
4The path of faith we follow does not allow us to insist on our own personal opinions or concepts. Absolute faith has no concept of "I," "me" or "mine." When we say our faith is absolute, it means there should be nothing that holds us back. To become one with God we will need to put aside any insistence on our own view. This means we unite completely with the desires of our subject partner, God. Complete unity means we have no shred of desire to impose ourselves. In the path of faith, if circumstances allow us to egocentrically assert ourselves, it is not the kingdom of heaven. No matter how devout our faith, if we are in the position to pursue our own hopes and desires as we please, it cannot be the kingdom of heaven. Like me, you need to think seriously about this fundamental issue.
5When someone faces insoluble personal problems, he or she needs to seek help from a senior, someone who is spiritually higher. The person should honestly report the situation and explain, "I do not exist for myself or live on my own; I exist for those who follow the One." Then if that spiritually higher person instructs him or her to go left, he or she should go left; and if that senior person says to go right, he or she should go right. Whether the spiritually higher person wants the person to go up or down, that person should do as asked. If he or she can say, "I am here at the command of my leader, not for my own sake," he or she will overcome all difficulties. That is to say, we need companions in our life of faith. People without companions are lonely people. Those who have companions can support and protect each other. They can find ways to overcome the challenges that arise in their life. Those with no companions have to resolve by themselves any problems that crop up. But this is truly a challenging task; problems assail us from every direction and we become unable to make it on our own.
6Because the lives of fallen human beings began from Satan, unless we deny ourselves, we cannot be linked to God's life. Accordingly, there is no other way except to lay down our own life. At what point can there be unity between our life and God's life? This occurs at the point we are willing to give up our fallen life -- that is, where we willingly go to the end, even to the extent of sacrificing our own life. This is why the path of faith is the path of living for the Will, the path of uniting with the Will even at the risk of our life.
7When I hear you laugh while you're talking in your room, I can immediately sense whether your laughter brings something positive or negative to God. I can feel it. You too need to cultivate good habits and develop your spiritual senses. Nothing in your surroundings is meaningless. Everything can be used as educational material, as a textbook for self-development. We need to have such an outlook on life. Then even when you are alone, you will not just act as you please. If you live with such an outlook on life, you will not mistreat anyone, whether an acquaintance or a stranger. You cannot treat a person casually simply because he or she is a stranger you meet for the first time. You really do not know who that person is. Therefore, in our life we need to develop our spiritual senses by relating with our environment centered on the standard of heart. People who never fail to find meaningful value, and delight in any situation or incident, are no longer practicing a faith that is merely conceptual. Such people practice real faith. Their life of faith is to live together with God.
8A life of faith must be fervent. Its fervor must exceed a hungry person's craving for food or the desperate heart of a lost child looking for his or her mother. This is because a life of faith pursues the goal of faith, which is not visible to the eyes. Is God's Will visible? God's Will remains invisible until it is realized through human beings. In the world around us, people plan, design, budget for and then execute a project; but God's Will is neither visible nor tangible. It is difficult to seek for the invisible world and substantiate its objectives in reality. Your eyes can see only what is visible. You cannot feel, see or hear what cannot be physically seen, felt or heard. Your five senses necessarily enable you to feel, hear and touch only what is perceptible in the physical realm.
9What is the path of faith? If a person can sense something from the invisible world more strongly than from the visible world, that person will never be exhausted. The external world seeks for the visible and revolves around it; but the path of faith pursues what is invisible. Therefore when you are so caught up in the external world that you lose sight of your spiritual goal and purpose, you will feel drained of energy in your life of faith.
10What should be the goal of Unification Church members in their life of faith? Their goal should be to walk the path of the cross, in the shoes of a servant, with the heart of a parent. We are unworthy to be considered even as servants. We have the body of a murderer who killed the Father. So we must walk the path to indemnify this. Jesus was innocent, yet he walked that path. Therefore we sinners who actually killed the Father should walk this path a hundred times, even a thousand times.
11You desperately appealed to God with a sorrowful heart, yet you could not find Him. It is due to the Fall that you could not find God. It is due to the Fall that human beings could not establish a parentchild relationship with God or a relationship of love with Him based on the heavenly norm. Therefore, we need to understand the causes and circumstances of the Fall and clearly reveal the identity of Satan. Only then can we human beings be restored to our original position. We do not need a lip-service parent-child relationship or even one just based on a covenant. We need to recover a living parent-child relationship with God. Even if our bones and flesh melt and we have to endure excruciating pain, it is only when we invest all our heart and mind for His Will and bring victory that this can happen.
12Imagine the glory of God's creations, which He made with His own hands and which were substantiated by His Word. Yet today heaven and earth do not reflect God's glory. This is woeful and infuriating; it does not reflect God's motivation and purpose for creating. His creation was defiled and God's intention and purpose of creation were violated due to something unexpected -- the Fall of the first human beings. The Fall became the source of suffering, grief and misfortune. It is the source of everything human beings detest. An adversary wielding a knife is not our true enemy. The Fall is the real enemy of humankind, the enemy of all things and the enemy of the Creator. What is the origin of this enemy? It originated millennia ago with the first human ancestors. Therefore, if we are to dig out the root of evil and sin, we must desperately battle this enemy, and eradicate the origin of the Fall by blasting it out of existence. Only then will the enemy be unable to relate with human beings on earth. As long as he remains, evil will still be rampant in the world. Believers ought not to battle over the results of the Fall; rather their first priority ought to be finding the Fall's originator. We need to identify the enemy's den and how he caused the Fall. The problem of the Fall needs to be resolved fundamentally between the three parties: God, human beings and Satan. Unless this is done, we will remain at a loss over how to resolve human suffering.
13Human beings should be able to call God "my Father" from the position of His true sons and daughters. This is the hope of humankind, the hope of all creation and the hope of God. Therefore, we are destined to work for the restoration of this relationship, so we may live on earth as true sons and daughters of God. As of now, our only wish is to build our relationship with God as our parent, based on true love.
14Amid the joys and sorrows that represent heaven and hell, I took my first steps to question and search for the origin of the universe. I discovered that its core is the parent-child relationship. Therefore the foundation of restoration is the parent-child relationship. This relationship must be completely restored. Accordingly, the history of God's providence is of the restoration of the original relationship between the Father and His sons and daughters.
15In order to stand before our absolute Father as His true sons and daughters, we need to overcome the world of doubt, the world of death, the world of sin and the world of fear. Once we understand what the essence of the life of faith that Heaven expects of us is all about, we can do no less than reach that standard and, having reached it, stand before Heaven. Unless we do so, we cannot become our Father's true sons and daughters. When you are armed with such a faith, you will be able to establish an eternal bond with God, enjoy eternal goodness and eternal life, and be eternally freed from pain. And you will be able to live eternally within the heavenly realm. This is something to remember.
16People separated from their parents or from their husband or wife feel sorrow. They are also unhappy if they don't have a nation that can protect them and their families. These situations draw people together in close relationships. People sometimes feel sadness even in their ordinary relationships. If they are unable to create bonds based on an eternal worldview, wouldn't they also feel empty? Even if people acquire everything they need and want in their life on earth, they are still bound to seek an eternal relationship with Heaven.
17We who follow the path of faith should aim for that which is unchanging. We must restore relationships that are unchanging. We need to realize that such bonds are made not separately from our daily lives but from within the sphere of our lives, with everything connected in oneness. We need to know this and live our lives while actively relating with God. Only through relating with God in our lives can we reclaim our true value and allow God to dwell in our heart, attaining oneness with Him. In other words, when you experience God's substantial presence, which allows you to live in such a way, you will realize that this has unlimited value. When you create the environment in which universal values can be actualized, the value of both individuals and the whole will start to grow centering on you.
18Unificationists' view of faith differs from that of any other religion. Up to this point, Christians have had a vague faith based on the Savior Jesus and the Bible. However, our life of faith is based on the word "Parent," meaning God, and is focused on cultivating the parent-child relationship with God. Parents and children have an inseparable relationship. That is true from the moment we are born and throughout our life until we die. Therefore, we cannot live or engage in any activity apart from our parents. This is especially so for the Parents who are the center of the history of the universe. They are not just ordinary parents who come to earth for their own family members; they come having achieved the absolute bond with God. This is why, unless you are connected to God and True Parents and unite fully with them, you cannot accomplish your responsibility or fulfill your purpose. The most important thing is that the three -- God, True Parents and you -- must always be in total oneness.
19What do all people and all things of creation lament over? It is that we cannot participate as members of the heavenly family. This is the lament of the cosmos. The purpose of our life of faith is nothing less than to find God and call Him Father. God has carried out the providence of restoration for six thousand years in order to welcome the day when all people will rejoice as brothers and sisters and recognize Him as their Father.
20Why did Jesus claim to be the begotten Son of God? The reason he made a statement that was so hard for the people of his day to believe was because he wanted to give them the benefits of instantly making a leap forward in faith through having believed in him. If the people had boundless faith in Jesus, their cries would have reached Heaven and their faith would have grown with great strides. The higher the level of your faith in the center of the heavenly kingdom, the greater the works the spirit world can do through you. If you possess boundless faith, then according to the quality of your character, you will be able to immediately feel the realities of the world beyond your physical senses and beyond the physical universe to a degree you cannot imagine. Unfortunately, human beings lost this amazing ability. If a believer has the ambition to ceaselessly advance toward the infinite world, he or she will have to face a cosmic battle. He or she will have to vanquish the forces that insist that human beings remain within a hemmed-in realm of faith.
21Human beings were originally meant to reach perfection in both spirit and flesh. As long as Jesus remains only in the position of our spiritual parent, he can give us only spiritual salvation, which is one half of salvation. Accordingly, there is a need for the returning Lord to come to earth to give us physical salvation, in the flesh. Then the returning Lord is to unite the spirits of all who believed in Jesus together with Christians on earth and offer them all before God to inaugurate the Third Israel. Just as baptism enabled believers to become citizens of the Second Israel, believers need to go through the gate of the Blessing to become citizens of the Third Israel.
22Wrongful love led Adam and Eve to the Fall. In order to reverse this through indemnity, human beings need to go through the gate of the Blessing and be joined as brides and grooms in God's love. Otherwise, they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. The responsibility to establish the Blessing was something that not even Jesus was able to fulfill. It is therefore the responsibility of the returning Lord, the Savior, to complete this task. Unless the Lord returns and takes up this task, and unless he controls the root of everything on earth, there is no way that he will be able to straighten out the entanglements on earth. The entire responsibility for giving the Blessing is his to fulfill.
23Because he was crucified, Jesus could not become the True Parent with a physical body. Although God's lineage was spiritually established, the manifestation of True Parents, who have both spirit and body, could not be realized. The spiritual True Parent, Jesus, is limited to the spirit world, making only spiritual salvation possible. He did not accomplish physical salvation, namely, redemption for the sins committed in the flesh. Accordingly, Christianity has only had a spiritual father and a spiritual mother -- Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when the True Parents come, we will need to be born anew through them, conditionally or symbolically reentering the womb of the Mother. For that sake, we have been groping our way forward on this course.
24Between the spirit self and the physical self, the spirit self is the more important. The physical self has a lifespan of seventy to eighty years in the limited physical realm, after which it decomposes. However, the spirit self transcends time and space. When you understand the historical responsibility that human beings are meant to fulfill, you must fulfill it. No matter how much you enjoy your life while living in the flesh, your body is destined to perish. Fleshly life is inevitably going to end.
25John the Baptist did not attend Jesus on the family level. Therefore Jesus had to indemnify this on John's behalf. Likewise, because the Christian cultural sphere did not attend the returning Lord, I, in the position of John the Baptist, had to establish the Unification Church in place of Christianity. Hence at the time of the Second Advent, the Unification Church is similar to Judaism on the global level. The United States, which is in the position of Israel, and the free world, should have become one with the Unification Church, but they are opposing it, as is Korea. Until such unity transpires, the Unification Church has no nation and can only carry out the providence of spiritual salvation, just as God carried out the providence of spiritual salvation through Jesus in the New Testament Age. If in the Last Days, Christianity, which has the global spiritual foundation, totally unites with me, then establishing the physical foundation will be no problem at all.
26We first need to free ourselves from Satan's world. We should also develop emotions different from those of worldly people. That is, we must deeply experience God's love spiritually and hate what Satan loves. We must also sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the entire world. If, centering on me, you are victorious on the individual, family, tribal, national and global levels, we can recover the spiritual Israel and the chosen people and establish them as the Third Israel. When this happens, God can save humanity spiritually and physically through us.
27Which is more important: spiritual standards or physical standards? We should not place physical standards in the primary position. Though the flesh exists for the spirit and the spirit for the flesh, do not cling to ways of the secular world. You should take the more meaningful position by concentrating your spirit and flesh on the essence of life. This is the path for those who uphold the Unificationist worldview. As it is, there are many people who care more about the body -- about what to eat and where to live -- than about living according to a spiritual standard. Everyone is caught by the conditions they create.
28What is the one foundation that can be the starting point for the realization of God's hope and humanity's hope? What is the one foundation that, for believers, marks the starting point of victory? The origin of God's bitter sorrow is that human beings descended from the false parent, Satan. Therefore we must become people who can obey the True Parents, based on our sacred relationship with them. This will finally liberate the cosmos and open the gate to the heavenly kingdom.
29A true family consists of a true man and a true woman who become true husband and true wife and then true parents of true children. Our core purpose as a man or woman is to become a true parent and as a couple to become true parents. After becoming true parents, we have sons and daughters and establish a family. This is why in the Unification Church we say, "Let us have faith in True Parents" and "Let us believe in True Parents." We needed to say this because we weren't certain that what we believed was true. But once we know with certainty, we move beyond the point of mere belief or faith. Formerly we believed because we did not know with certainty; now that we do, we no longer need to simply believe. Furthermore, until now we did not know why we were born, what it really means to become a husband or wife, the significance of children and what family is all about. But now we no longer need to believe in True Parents' family because we can know True Parents' family. We know True Parents, so we no longer need to just believe in them. Put away the concept, "I believe in True Parents," and instead think, "I know True Parents." With that, we can share our lives with True Parents. We can live with them.
30The Messiah is the perfected True Parents who have nothing to do with the Fall. When the True Parents appear, they become the axis by which God and human beings can be linked to each other. God is the spiritual True Parent, and when Adam and Eve reach perfection they become the substantial True Parents on earth. Because of this axis, there is unity. Religions until the present did not have the standard of True Parents; hence there was no way for them to link human beings with God on earth. Therefore religions have advocated offering devotion so that believers could establish a standard upon which to build a reciprocal base with Heaven and meet the Lord in spirit. For this reason many believers have lived their lives cultivating their spirituality by making repeated conditions of devotion, gradually building their own spiritual bridges to encounter Heaven.
31Every single human being must follow the path to sever from the false love, false life and false lineage they were born with and to live a new life by being engrafted into true love, true life and the true lineage. Religions emerged to help us subjugate the body and forge unity between the mind and body. Therefore, as a religious believer it is important that you attain the state of mind-body unity while living on earth, become one with your spouse in true love, and give birth to sons and daughters who can go to the kingdom of heaven. How can people give birth to true sons and daughters who can enter the heavenly kingdom unless they live a life of faith? This is why religions emerged for the subjugation of the body and for the unity of the body with the mind. They are to bring people into unity with the True Parents through an engrafting process. This is how false olive trees are transformed into true olive trees that bear true sons and daughters who, after completing their earthly lives, will proceed to the eternal world, the kingdom of heaven. This is the ideal of creation.
32True Parents advanced from the lowest level of hell up to the height of heaven and are moving forward with true love. When we follow True Parents' will and become one with them in heart and one with their ideal of life, there will be no distance between us and True Parents. Then what they have erected and indemnified vertically will unfold for us horizontally. The standards of the eight stages are required only until redemption is accomplished on the eight levels -- that of an individual, a family, a tribe, a people, a nation, the world, the cosmos, and finally the level of God's liberation. When all that is accomplished horizontally, individuals will be able to freely advance to the family level, our family to the level of the tribe and our tribe to the level of one people. We start from the individual level, advance to the ends of the earth, and then come back.
1Because human beings are born as descendants of the fallen first human ancestors, we can neither find the path to God nor enter the heavenly nation unless we overcome the obstacle of the Fall. Furthermore, as beings encumbered with fallen nature, it is impossible to find the way to reverse the Fall on our own. In order to reverse the Fall, we cannot rely on our own power, but must rely on the power of a third party. Such is the plight of people living today. Fortunately, Heaven has not forsaken us. Throughout history Heaven has toiled, taking responsibility to guide us in reversing the conditions of the Fall.
2When we talk about the true path of faith, "true" means there is only one path. What then, is the object of our faith? It is the absolute God. A life of faith is about seeking and finding the destination of hope desired by God, in accordance with His Will. A life of faith is not about what I want; it is not about the desire of those who lead a life of faith. Confusion has occurred within the global community of faith because people have not understood that a life of faith should be centered upon accomplishing God's Will, not centered upon oneself.
3Everything depends on oneself. It is up to each of us whether we achieve perfection or fail to achieve it. It is the same regarding whether we succeed or fail in life. Our life of faith is no different. Although our faith may be constant throughout our life, our conscience urges us to strive after ever-higher goals. Reaching the highest standard is, however, no ordinary undertaking. The higher we climb, the closer to the peak we are, until ultimately we realize that everything ends in unity. It is difficult, though, to reach that point of oneness: historically, our conscience has sought the purpose of goodness, yet the perfection we desire as human beings still eludes us.
4In the Unification Church, your life of faith requires you to raise the standard by which you evaluate yourselves as you walk with God in your daily lives. When you go to the spirit world this higher standard will be your asset. It will also be the determining factor deciding whether in the new era you will be remembered in history as a hero or an outcast.
5Each one of us needs a victorious standard, a starting point from which we can accomplish our mission. This means we must establish a victorious standard from the subject partner position. Naturally, unless we establish a victorious standard, we will not be able to accomplish our purpose. Where must we establish this standard? It must be created within ourselves.
6When Jesus came to earth carrying God's entire mission on His behalf, standing as the one responsible for ending a cosmic struggle, the issue for Jesus was always to focus on his relationship with God. God was to be the center of heaven and earth and Jesus the substantial center. Jesus was constantly mindful of this fact. If any gap between himself and God had opened, or a conflict over their purpose had arisen, they would not have been able to progress toward victory.
7Deep in his heart, Jesus carried the conviction that the Father and Son must always be united. In other words, centering on God, the victorious subject partner, Jesus was fully aware that in order to prepare a victorious foundation as a subject partner on earth, he needed to attend God in his heart. It is from this standpoint that Jesus referred to himself as the temple of God. Achieving a victorious standard means to create a foundation of unity, of becoming a temple centering on Jesus, the substantial manifestation of God on earth. In other words, to complete a victorious foundation, a standard must be established. Otherwise the completion of restoration, the accomplishment of Jesus' mission, would be impossible. Therefore, unless we establish a standard of faith and begin, we cannot claim that we have attained a victorious foundation. This is true no matter how long we have practiced a life of faith or how difficult our course may have been. In conclusion, the most important point is to have one moment that defines the standard of victory within oneself.
8When you seek what is true, you need a heart that longs for what is true. When you yearn for the truth in which heaven and earth can take delight, you must realize that you have to prepare yourself to match the standard of what is true from Heaven's perspective. The means of existence may differ between the true God, true truth and true human beings. However, from an internal point of view, all three move in the same direction. In other words, God and truth move in one direction and coexist eternally. When we look at today's world, we lament that this world has not become a true world. Furthermore, when we look deeply within ourselves, we lament not becoming true people and deplore not finding the true God in our lives of faith, despite yearning to do so. This is the agony faced by those who lead a life of faith.
9No one who lives a life of faith at the risk of his or her life wants to see his or her faith simply crumble amid life's tribulations. The more seriously we practice our faith, the greater the trials we encounter and the more we want our faith to become deeper, wider and more enduring. If God is a serious God, then when He looks at each of us, we want Him to look more seriously at us than others look at us. Furthermore, as believers we all desire to leave a legacy in this world related to the cause most dear to our hearts.
10As believers, we say we will become God's children. Yet what is God's wish? God's ultimate wish for us has nothing to do with the mundane matters of our daily lives such as eating and sleeping. These activities are common to everyone. The Bible clearly tells us, "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things... But strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness." (Matt. 7:31-33)
11A life of faith involves overcoming the constraints of our environment, making breakthroughs every day and constantly seeking new paths. Unless we do so, we cannot enter the kingdom desired by God. Since we often lack energy and since our habits and daily lives do not meet a high standard on our path of faith, we need to uphold God as our standard and adjust our daily lives accordingly.
12Originally human life was meant to begin with living for others, with God at the center. However, due to the Fall, human life did not begin with living for others. It began with selfish thinking, living for oneself and creating self-centered relationships. Since we are striving toward the goals of eternal freedom and peace, we must shed the self-centeredness and fallen nature that put our personal desires before the greater purpose. We need to become people who transcend ourselves and live for others.
13Before we can be proud of ourselves, we first must admit we are fallen people. Prior to showcasing our qualities, we first must confess the nature of our sins, while admitting that we come from a sinful history and that we are imbued with fallen nature. Although this is the reality of our fallen state, we try to circumvent it in all kinds of ways. Heaven must cleanse all the guilt that stains history and resolve the resentments resulting from these festering historical crimes passing down through the lineage.
14Among your colleagues, teachers, students or relatives, is there anyone who likes those who make excuses? Yet people are prone to blaming another person and scapegoating others when something goes wrong. A common excuse is, "Why are you only blaming me? He also did that; my brother did the same thing." This is wrong. A person who makes a mistake should be honest. Yet often, someone who has committed an error tries to implicate others. Such behavior is from fallen nature. In order to correct this fallen inclination within ourselves, we should be honest in our daily life. We must have even greater honesty in front of God.
15When perfect parts are put together for a particular purpose, a perfect object is made. For example, to build a house, the doors and all the related components should be perfect. Only then can a house be completed. When we consider this, we realize we need to pursue perfection. Therefore, Jesus said, in Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect." The standard is that you too must reach the perfection of Heaven. You must without doubt pursue the values of an object partner who comes close to the Absolute. What is required is a perfected object partner who stands unashamed in front of the Absolute. In order to achieve this, we need to analyze our daily life. We must set aside our daily life and even our thinking. We must analyze our five senses and entire body. We must feel and sense everything differently from how we did before.
16When you assert yourself in front of fallen humankind, it can be inferred that you still have your fallen nature. From this point, you must completely break yourself down. If you cling to the shape and elements of your fallen nature, you have more to do to reach total self-abnegation. Taking oneself apart completely means total self-denial. The true, original, ideal hope of human beings cannot be attained by the self-assertive way of fallen people. This is the conclusion. This is why, as God pursues providential goals through religion, the path He upholds is not that of self-assertion but the path of absolute selfdenial. Unless we set the standard starting with total self-abnegation, there are no means for fallen human beings to fulfill the Absolute Being's principle of partnership.
17We must completely detach from our fallen nature. To cut free from fallen nature, we first must dissociate from our individual selves. Hence we must be victorious as individuals -- and then on the levels of the family, people, nation, world and finally the cosmos. This would be the realm of complete freedom from fallen nature. When we finally discover ourselves as object partners to God, having overcome our fallen nature, we will immediately realize that God is watching over us, and come to know that, instead of simply believing in God, we are with God.
18When you stand in front of Heaven, you have to reveal your shortcomings and recognize that you are a sinner. You need to become a lump of clay God can shape and mold as He pleases. This process is impossible if you assert or even acknowledge yourself. Thus the biblical saying, "Those who lose their life for my sake will find it" is validated. (Matt. 10:39) There is fallen nature everywhere in the body: there is fallen nature within these eyes, in these ears, in these lips. We must completely eliminate fallen nature. If God leads us one way, we must follow; if God takes us another way, we must go; if God tells us to extend our hand, we should do it; if God commands that we retreat, we must retreat. We should be absolutely willing to do as God wishes.
19Changing one's perception or understanding is a frightening and difficult task. Once acquired, a bad habit is difficult to change. This is why we have the adage, "Habits formed as a toddler continue until old age." Although you may have been in the Unification Church for decades, you have not rooted out your secular habits. You may say the words, "Sacrifice for the providence; sacrifice," but have you really sacrificed? If given the choice between a comfortable path and a path of trials and tribulations, can you confidently say you would go the path of sacrifice? No. This disposition toward taking the easy way out is the result of secular habits transmitted historically. Even St. Paul exclaimed, "Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Rom. 7:24) This wretchedness is also a result of habits accumulated over a lifetime. St. Paul lamented, "Wretched man that I am!" because he saw within himself two laws at war with each other. His inner being delighted in God's law but his body followed Satan's desires. He thus added, "Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
20Habits formed over a lifetime cannot be eliminated, even though you try until you die. Thus it is logical to say that habits and fallen nature that have been passed down over millions of years cannot be rooted out with efforts made over a few centuries. This is a serious issue. You speak vaguely about fallen nature, but this fallen nature was not inherited through something being eaten. Fallen nature has been inherited through flesh and bone; it has been passed down through lineage. These habits have been mixed with flesh and blood. Fallen nature has taken root and cannot be removed with human energy. It has grown into a gigantic tree gathering up all the people of the world.
21We need to be aware of our fallen nature and the bitter sorrow of the Fall. Think about Adam and Eve crying after being chased from Eden. Remember this, and let us cleave earnestly to our Parent, yearning to be one with Him, with the determination to go forward -- even if we have to spend tens of thousands of years crossing over the peaks of death. If we are unable to achieve mind-body unity, we will have no relationship with the foundation of God's victory, even as that foundation spreads across the earth.
22You cannot rejoice in who you are, since you are not your original self. You must recognize that your situation is sorrowful. Your grief, however, should not be directed toward the world. Even when you feel pain, your pain should bear no relationship to the anguish of the secular world. When you feel sadness and pain, your sadness should come from being unable to find your true self. No matter how great the anguish and suffering of the world, they do not exceed the sadness and pain people experience being unable to find their true selves. Given this situation, for whom has God been searching until now? God has been searching for each of you. This is why you need to uncover and strengthen your true selves. Otherwise you have no relationship to a true family of true individuals, a true society built upon true families, a true nation of true societies, a true world made up of such true nations, or to the cosmos that bears this ideal world that perfectly centers on the substance of oneness. The first standard for all these levels of goodness is individual perfection.
23By disobeying God's Word, humankind lost God's Word, lost His substance and lost His love. Can you imagine God's heart as He spoke the Word, His heart as He created human beings to be His substance, and His internal heart anticipating the pride He would feel through that substance? We are the ones who lost God's Word, failed to embody Him and failed to embody the love that could create the garden envisioned by God. Hence we must realize that we are all sinners who cannot take pride in ourselves. On the contrary, we are beings who are incapable of establishing initiatives on our own and unable to find any basis to discover the foundation for the Sabbath within our own minds.
24Our mind constantly redirects us along our way. It tells us, "Turn around. Return to the ancient place. Return to the deepest place in your mind." This is why Buddhism encourages us to meditate. The reality of our life on earth is that through our original mind's guidance we sorrowfully seek our original selves. Once we have purified ourselves and returned to the ancient place, it is excruciating to recall our past, even in dreams. God's goal is to eliminate this kind of sorrow-filled life. We should be living in the new, ideal world, enraptured with renewed hope.
25In the secular world, people seek good food and wear fashionable clothes. In contrast, the basic attitude of a religious seeker should be to eat simple food by choice. This is opposite to the way of the world. When you look at religious seekers, you see that despite eating humble food, wearing shabby clothes and leading impoverished lives, their way of life and their purpose is to find the original relationship -- the love that can embrace them eternally.
26The original place of the Will is where God dwells. Therefore that original place is sacred. When we transcend all levels of creation and measure our coordinates from all directions, we can determine exactly where we are in relation to the Absolute. However, if we are mistaken in measuring and are not aligned with the original point at 180 degrees, we cannot reach it until we realign and straighten ourselves out. Given the context of our sinful history, this is the inevitable conclusion. We need to realign ourselves with all four directions in order to find the original zero point. And in order to find that zero point, we need to clearly understand the original center. Only when we fully unite with the zero point can we reach that original center. Until we understand this, we cannot recover our position as a second, resultant being, totally united with the Will, through which we can achieve a new beginning. This is logical and no one can object to it.
27When God created Adam and Eve, He invested Himself wholeheartedly based on that original relationship. In the same fashion, we must transform our fallen selves and strive to return to our original position, by investing several dozen times greater effort than God did, using all His creativity through thousands of years of history. In the history of restoration, the effort to secure a foundation of goodness has run to hundreds of attempts and has taken tens of thousands of years.
28The human body and conscience began to fight once they were placed under the realm of Satan's love, within the devil's dominion, which stands opposed to the original mind. The critical issue is how to resolve this fight between our conscience and our body. Resolving the issue at the personal level, however, is not enough. Each of us must repair the global environment, which has been overtaken by satanic forces. The environment should not contradict us; it should adjust to us. It should even follow us. Unless we accomplish the correct order of dominion, we cannot move in the direction to which our original minds aspire.
29We must ask ourselves, "What kind of being am I?" We are divine princes and princesses with cosmic value who are meant to find the crown of glory at the end of our lives, inheriting all of creation and the entire universe. Is it acceptable that people with such value be sold for a bowl of rice, or be the puppet of a group of worthless outlaws? Absolutely not! We must find ourselves. We need to bear the responsibility for our own restoration and rebuild our original nature. We have to ask, "Where is my original self?" We are searching, full of hope as we struggle to reunite with our true selves. We must uncover our self, which is connected with the origin of history, with cosmic law, with today's reality and with the future.
1If you look at the Chinese character for shin (信), meaning belief, you will see it is a combination of the characters for person (人) and word (言). Belief therefore means a person's word. "Word" here signifies the means of communication that connects two people. When there is an absence of relationship, not a word is spoken. But when two people speak there is immediately an underlying giving and receiving. So, to form a relationship, we need belief. Moreover, the foundation for a relationship emerges from a connection established with love. But such a relationship cannot be established arbitrarily. A connection is possible because the necessary conditions of energy are there and somehow the levels of both parties' objectives coincide.
2Hope always supports faith. What does faith demand? If a person has perfect faith, faith demands that he match it in value with substantial effort. Faith means standing for and believing in the person who has matched the ideal of creation, who is in accord with principled law, and who has not fallen, but has reached perfection, and then is acting accordingly. The one who is victorious in this kind of faith will realize his hope. God's love comes naturally to the one who achieves victory in faith and hope.
3Since God's formula based on principle requires absolute faith, He had no choice but to command Noah to build the ark on top of a mountain. Noah faithfully accomplished his task over 120 years. That is how the number 120 could be reclaimed. Noah invested his entire life in carrying out God's command. After the flood, Noah's sons realized that their father had been correct, and they respected him, saying, "We thought our father was insane. But, as he predicted, God's judgment came to pass and only our eight family members are left. Our father's words were true. He is a prophet and a man of God." Nevertheless, after the flood, when Ham saw his father lying asleep naked, he felt ashamed and called his two brothers, saying, "Father is crazy. Now he's sleeping naked." Then they took a garment and, walking backward, covered Noah's naked body. With this act, the brothers completely denied Noah's God-ordained position. That they opposed him in the end is undeniable. Therefore we must practice absolute faith before God. We must devote absolute faith only to God, not to Satan. The one who dedicates absolute faith only to God will surely be blessed by God as the father of faith. God cannot help but love such a person.
4When we look at faith and practice, there is always a gap between the two. Faith always precedes practice, not the other way around. Only when fallen human beings have strong faith can they practice it vigorously. But God does not look at faith only. God requires faith as a bridge to a better outcome through practice. In spite of this, people neglect the practice and focus primarily on faith. This is at odds with what God desires, but this is the way people generally practice their faith.
5God began the creation with absolute faith. So to accomplish the providence of restoration, He also had to begin it with absolute faith. However, absolute faith must be practiced with absolute love as the center. Love is the subject partner, and faith is the object partner. This is why everyone yearns for absolute faith; this desire centers on love. The purpose of love is to give birth to the universe. Absolute faith is needed for creation. In order to create this immense universe, God has to invest His entire mind and body and continue to invest unto eternity.
6Absolute faith is about living for others. The absolute God lives for others. During their courtship, young men and women ask each other how much each believes in and cares for the other. In order to lay a path of living for others, the two must become one over time. Absolute faith creates an object partner. On top of that, investment is required, since unity is forged based on true love. One side must begin investing to level things out. But who should do this? A man cannot ask that a woman invest herself for his sake, just as a woman cannot demand that a man invest himself for her sake. Both parties need to invest selflessly in each other in the hope of attaining the greater goal. Practicing this is absolute faith and absolute love.
7Why is absolute faith needed? God Himself needs to reach the highest, ideal standard. Based on this standard, the realm of love's object partner appears. Thus God created with absolute faith the realm of the object partner, including the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms. God also invested Himself with His absolute love. God invested Himself absolutely during the mineral era, the plant era and the animal era. After these comes the era of settlement. Unless we reach that final point where our mind and body absolutely do not fight each other, a heavenly world cannot be established.
8What is absolute faith? It is all about establishing the order of absolute love. It is all for love. A person who seeks absolute faith for the sake of absolute love forgets about him or herself as an individual embodiment of truth, and invests everything. And when God invests Himself completely, ignoring the internal nature and external form of His own divine character, only then can His object partner become perfect. Thereafter, God can say, "Please make me a Parent who can love His child as the Owner of love." But it is the child who fulfills this request. Neither God nor the father and mother can do this.
9God has toiled up to the present day, seeking to find what was lost. It is not because He is unable to take dominion over human beings. Similarly, God has been fighting Satan and his accusations not because He has no authority. God fights in this way in order to establish the Principle. In this great struggle, God actually permits Satan to act; then He does the great spiritual work of rearranging what Satan has done. Satan cannot accuse God for rearranging what he himself has dominated first. Thus the wisest person is the one who knows how to get even Satan to run God's errands. Such a person will be the ultimate victor.
10If you wish to be victorious in battle and become victors representing the past, present and future, you need to know the reality of Satan as he dominated history, his reality as he dominates the present and his intentions for the future. It was for this purpose that Jesus, representing the Jewish people, ascended the Mount of Olives all alone to pray. Jesus devoted his entire life to fighting Satan, the obstructer of the Will of Heaven. In the process, Jesus established a standard of suffering on behalf of the past, present and future. You must follow a similar course. Similar ordeals await each of you on your path.
11With regard to the Unification Church, my responsibility is to proclaim all the principles of restoration and carry the overall providence without being encumbered by Satan's accusations. I have paved this road. I have erected the signposts that people can use to find the way to please Heaven in accordance with God's law of love. This is the blessing humankind has received. I, the leader of the Unification Church, have made it possible for people to begin to truly love for the first time in history. This is why the countless people who will learn the Divine Principle through our Unification Church members need to live out those teachings.
12We have fallen nature. What are the four main characteristics of fallen nature? They are arrogance, jealousy, anger and deceit. We have been fasting and performing other acts of devotion to remove this fallen nature. To succeed in this, what are we to do in the era of judgment in the course of restoration? We each need to arm ourselves with the Word and become embodiments of the Word. In order to make restoration substantial, we need to remove the primary aspects of our fallen nature. We have four aspects of fallen nature, and we need to go through persecution and hardships in order to remove them.
13What is the work of re-creation? It is for that which has fallen to ascend, in the opposite direction, through bursts of energy. As we are on the path to establish oneness with God's heart, faith is required. But practice is needed even before faith. Yet we cannot act centered on ourselves. We must act from the position of loving God. We must act for the one we love. Unless we establish this properly, we will be unable to go the way of redemption. History bears witness to this.
14In the Old Testament Age, God endeavored to nurture a relationship with human beings by inspiring them to make offerings to Him of minerals, plants and animals, consecrated to the side of goodness. People living in that age needed to unite in heart with the sanctified offerings. Fallen human beings have the responsibility to seek true value. Beyond our imagining, God toiled to nurture a relationship of true value with fallen human beings through sanctified offerings.
15The Fall occurred on earth, so we must break free from it on earth. Therefore it is not a bad thing that God creates difficult situations for us. By encountering hardships wherever we go, by facing death or being unable to live well, and by living humble lives, we can swiftly remove the impurities of our fallen nature. Our bodies are dysfunctional wrecks covered in waste products that are difficult to remove, but a challenging environment is conducive to removing the pollutants of the fallen nature. Hence the more onerous the situation, the swifter will be our release from indemnity.
16Since this world exists as the realm of the Fall, we need to prevail over it. As long as a radio transmitter does not lie flat on the ground but remains erect, even if it must compete with other signals, this transmitter will continue to broadcast globally. Similarly, the transmitter of true love must dominate and exceed the range of the fallen nature's transmitter. So for our transmitters of true love to dominate the realm of the Fall, we need to completely deny everything in Satan's world. Then we can become conditional entities capable of connecting with God. Even then, however, we are not complete entities of perfect love.
17The Last Days represents the glorious day of resurrection when human beings on earth come to embody God's goodness. Witnessing is the battlefield on which we, as sons and daughters of God, smash Satan. The arena of witnessing is the arena of tears, in which our ancestors bless and encourage us to fight victoriously, and in which we strive with deep hope to uplift our future descendants. In other words, witnessing is the arena we enter to be resurrected from a servant into an adopted son and from an adopted son into a direct son. God's wish for us is that through these relationships of rebirth we achieve substantial resurrection. We need to expand the historical standard horizontally by establishing this standard of resurrection.
18When walking the course of the providence of restoration, Unification Church members need to progress through the levels of the servant, the adopted son and the direct son. After growing through these three stages, each member needs to love his or her spiritual children or followers in the same way parents care for their children, love them and are ready to die for them. Even as we sacrifice ourselves, to become God's blessed children we should naturally feel gratitude for our blessings, while at the same time hoping that all of them will go to someone else.
19What is truth? For a man, it is a woman of true love. For a woman, it is a man of true love. What is truth for parents? It is a filial son of true love. What is truth for a filial son? It is a father and mother of true love. What is the truth for human beings? It is God. What is the truth for God? It is Adam and Eve united in true love. Then all is completed. In the family there are parents and teachers. Fathers and mothers teach their children, while husbands teach their wives and wives teach their husbands. People who live this way will become true fathers and mothers, teachers and owners. Such a home becomes a base of peace. Therefore all relationships bear fruit in the family.
20What was the starting point for True Parents? It was true love. In the end, love becomes the critical issue. Any family, tribe, people, nation or world that advances based on true love is automatically united. History should have followed the one direction of true love. But instead history has followed a messy, zigzag course. True Parents are called to completely change this situation after going through the levels of the individual, family, tribe and nation.
21When the mind and body unite in true love, the mind belongs to the body and the body to the mind. When a man and a woman, each with a united mind and body, become one in true love, they can occupy God. To occupy God, they need to build a bridge. A man cannot build this bridge by himself and neither can a woman by herself. Rather, a couple must join together in true love. For a man or a woman to become perfect, each needs his or her partner.
22Theoretically there is no basis on which Satan can approach a family composed of true olive trees. While Satan can approach family members when they are at the top of the growth stage, he cannot when they are at the top of the completion stage. Completion of one's portion of responsibility leads to unity in true love between the sphere of indirect dominion, based on accomplishments through the Principle, and the sphere of direct dominion. Synergy occurs between the two spheres, and there is nothing Satan can do to separate the two. This marks a new, historical point of transition.
23The institution in which the three great kingships are found together is the family. A family is a fortress or palace that holds the past, present and future worlds. In the family, the grandparents, representing the past, should be attended like God, with the absolute respect accorded a great king and queen. The parents are in the position of Adam; they are the present king and queen of the family and its center. The children are the kings and queens of days to come; they inherit the kingdom of the future. This is the concept of a royal family based on true love. Families who perfect this are destined to go to heaven. There is no other way; perfection takes place in this way.
24The purpose of creation was for Adam and Eve to follow the commandment of God, the owner of true love, and become perfected, true beings. Afterward, Adam and Eve were meant to become a true couple united in God's true love. This perfection of Adam and Eve based on true love would have been the fulfillment of God's wish that they become His extension on earth. Furthermore, their perfection as a true couple would have meant the perfection of God's absolute ideal of love.
1Do you have mystical experiences in your life of faith, or spiritually experience God's presence? There are some among you who frequently see me spiritually during prayers or in dreams and receive directions from me. This should happen one hundred percent of the time. This is the strength, the pride and the treasure we have. Up to this point, no religion has gone through such an intense kind of experiential process. This is why religions are confused and have become secularized. However, the Unification Church knows that God stands at the very end. Even if the storms and floods of life rage against us and we are about to die, the amazing fact is that we have become men and women who can leave behind a legacy of hope for tomorrow.
2One does not grow tired of hearing words of truth. You need to experience this. If you go to a church that offers words of truth, such that after hearing the same content a hundred times you still wish you could hear more, you surely have encountered heaven. And when you meet a certain church leader a hundred or a thousand times yet still wish to meet him or her again, do not leave this leader. If one of your arms is amputated, grab this church leader with your other. If you meet such a leader, you certainly have encountered heaven.
3If you resolve to attend the Unification Church after hearing the Divine Principle, you will certainly face tests. Or, if you promise to go to a Divine Principle workshop, an accident might happen at home or incidents might occur several times to obstruct you. You must have had such experiences. This formula is certain. This happens because, when you wish to ascend from the individual level to a higher one, Satan steps on you from above.
4In order to share the Word with a profound standard of heart, unlike any other, you need to deeply know the Word. To connect with a one hundred percent standard of heart, you need to personally experience and realize the Word deeply like that, then share it. Through our actions, too, we must behave in such a way that we can be liked and respected.
5A life of faith is a real battle. We must be victorious in this battle. When a new member seeks to come to church, for instance, Satan is always busy working to impede him or her. Hence in order to overcome this impediment, the spiritual parent must be absolute. This kind of perfect plus creates a perfect minus. Therefore we must not vacillate. We must pursue our life of faith determinedly, without wavering.
6Through the works of the Holy Spirit, the early Christian church could act in ways to overcome the vortex of persecution. However, these works did not expand to the world, beginning with the individual and progressing through the levels of family and tribe; they remained local. This was the case because the early church members did not clearly establish a direction that such works could have supported. They didn't realize the fundamental purpose that underlay their spiritual experiences, what processes should have followed these works, or what final destination they should have headed toward.
7From the beginning, I have worked out solutions to important problems based on reference to the spirit world. I have been testing to see whether the spirit world indeed provides good solutions, due to its standard that goes beyond the nation and the world. In the spirit world, people transcend nationalities and meet according to their spiritual level.
8Henceforth you need to have spiritual experiences. You need to know whether your endeavors will succeed or fail. If you pray fervently, you'll know in advance that you'll succeed. Praying enlivens your mood and makes your body feel more nimble. You can sense it in your body; your body knows. To reach this state, you need to completely cleanse yourself of all notions of self-centeredness and selfishness.
9Through the spirit world, every day I guide and instruct the missionaries who are toiling all over the world. You need to realize this in your daily life. If you come in and commit to the Unification Church after listening to the Word for a week, your attitude about life changes. You come to detest your past habits. Then my teachings flow into your heart very well. You come to know what I'm going to say in advance, and cannot but become a core member of the Unification Church.
10A life of faith requires deep empathy. Without this profound dimension, you can't know genuine faith. Hence you must experience empathy deeply. What does this mean? When Heaven is sorrowful, each of us needs to feel that sorrow. Deep empathy means this feeling of sorrow floods into you. If you can empathize deeply, you do not need to pray.
11Profound empathy is most important in our life of faith. Such empathy leads you to weep unfathomable streams of tears. Have you ever felt tears flowing from your eyes while in a state of transcendental consciousness? This is nothing like the anger and sadness you feel after someone insults you. Your heart is seized with a feeling of grief and tears pour ceaselessly from your eyes. A believer's daily life should essentially be like this. Beyond understanding, deep pain seizes your heart. You feel so heavy-hearted you don't know what to do.
12As you practice deep empathic faith throughout your life, you should walk a clearly principled course to reach the standard of an unchanging victor who can represent eternity to all creation. Unless you establish this standard, sorrowful conditions will remain unresolved on earth. If we leave behind such unresolved sorrowful conditions, it will be difficult for us to find God's internal heart when we go to heaven. That is why, as living beings connected to Jesus in spirit and the Holy Spirit in body, we must grow to be substantial manifestations of God's glory. Thereafter we will become substantial embodiments of faith.
13To this day, I have offered more devoted effort in front of God than the myriads of Christians in Korea. A person of heart makes progress. Through empathy, such a person expands the realm of heart from the individual to the family, nation and world. When someone offers acts of devotion with heart, God will hold on to this person. If God were to hold on to people who are not like that, He would not be able to carry out His operations. The greatest issue is how someone who has received the command to defend Heaven will advance with faith. One small error can impede the outcome of history and lead to historical judgment later on. This is why all our daily activities -- even sleeping, eating and putting on clothes -- must be done based on a life of faith.
14There are times when I get in a car and immediately sense that something is wrong. At that time, I change my course. I have such spiritual or even physical sensations. These physical sensations come from deep experience through my life of faith. Similarly, there will be times when you feel like holding on to something, be it a lamppost or anything else, and crying your heart out. You must never miss these occasions. If you ignore such feelings a few times, the opportunities for these wonderful experiences will grow rare. Missing these opportunities never benefits you. In fact, the energy producing such opportunities can even transform into forces that oppose and impede you.
15Profound empathy with God is a requisite of a life of faith. Through our profound experiences we can fathom God's character and feel the internal bond of deep heart we have with Him. Only through spiritual experiences can we feel these things. Through our spiritual life we can experience a euphoric sense of well-being. Moreover, unless we have this kind of experience, we cannot be filled with new hope for the ideal. Despite receiving fierce persecution from the Romans, even being fed to lions, early Christians were able to persevere in their path of faith. This was not due to some abstract belief but because they had profound spiritual experiences that allowed them to transcend the hardships they faced.
16You have to grievously empathize with God, who has been working according to heavenly principles and demonstrating endless loyalty toward humankind in order to realize His Will. You have to compassionately empathize with the heart of God, who has sacrificed resolutely and unflinchingly to establish His Will. In addition, you have to tearfully empathize with the heart of God, who has risen above Himself time and again to recommit to the ideal of the future, with a heart that wants to give endlessly to you.
17In our lives of faith, we need to completely forget ourselves. As we offer and sacrifice ourselves, we need to recognize our own inadequacy. Even as we face death, we must reproach ourselves. We can accomplish Heaven's ideal of resurrection only when we become people of original character who do not boast of anything before Heaven.
18On the path of faith, we need to surpass everyone in Satan's world; we cannot afford to be at the same level. Compared to them, our internal heart and character must be so elevated and perfectly harmonious that it would be difficult to imagine secular people rising to that level. Based on such spiritual development, we can enter the realm of resurrection.
19We must embrace the realm of resurrection with tears of repentance. By shedding the tears that Adam and Eve never shed, we have to rise above their level. We should not accuse one another with hostility and say, "I sinned because of you. I would not have done it if not for you." We should also refrain from blaming a third party for our sorrow, pretending that "Usually I am a positive and normal person." We each need to deny ourselves and affirm those around us. Each of us must shed tears for the nation and wish for the nation to be saved ahead of us. We should also shed tears for the family and hope for its salvation.
20Once we have resurrected our lives, if we advance with faith knowing with certainty that there is a subject partner, God, capable of leading us toward goodness, we must take the position of object partner. We then become one with the subject partner and embrace the meeting point of the objectives of the subject and object partners. At this point we can overcome any adverse environment. Furthermore, however dire a situation we may face, the greater our awakening to the hope and purpose of the subject partner, the Absolute Being, the stronger our feeling that this realization will become a direct source of energy in our life course.
Fin de What Is a Life of Faith?