220. The Blessing and Eternal Life

Book 2: A Model for the Family Ideal and World Peace
Part 2: The Path to Exemplary Families and Global Harmony
Chapter 6: The Blessing and Eternal Life

This speech was given by Reverend Sun Myung Moon on January 23, 1998 at a hoondok rally in Korea for the study of True Parents' words and to celebrate the victory of the 40 Million Couples Blessing, and then by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon between February 23 and April 16 at True Family Values Movement hoondok rallies for the study of True Parents' words in Japan and the United States.

Humanity is now facing the challenge of the Last Days. In this era, families the world over are breaking down. Husbands and wives, parents and children are becoming enemies to one another. What is the cause of this tragedy? The cause is a lack of true love. We are ignorant of the most important issue of eternal life. We are ignorant of the spirit world.

The reason we need to understand eternal life

If we truly understand that we live eternally, we cannot commit a sin against another person, even when temptation presents itself. We cannot live selfishly, even if permitted to do so. On the other hand, if we do not understand the spirit world, we cannot enter the kingdom of God, no matter what our religion. We cannot go to God's ideal world, the place where one invests in a life of true love. 

On the larger scale, without knowing the meaning of eternal life, we cannot create a true social revolution. If it is not connected to eternal life, a social revolution may make things worse. No one desires that. If it impacts the issue of immortality or eternal life, we can overcome any kind of challenge in our environment. This is what is so great about religion. It is connected to the question of eternal life. If the concept of eternal life is well laid out and if we come to believe that it is true, we can lead our sons and daughters and our families.

To this day, religions have neither embraced nor encompassed the secular world. As a result, secularism now has a controlling influence on culture. Secularism has overpowered the influence of religion. This happened because religions have been unable to establish a clear concept of eternal life.

This is the challenge faced by Christianity. Although people have practiced Christianity faithfully for many centuries, many churches today are confused. In the Last Days, the more the world changes, the more religious people are caught up in the changes. Even Christianity does not have a clear and logical understanding of eternal life.

In short, no one has complete confidence concerning eternal life. In fact, people do not even know with certainty whether or not God exists. When faced with the obstacles and temptations of this world, most people waver. They fall away from their faith and follow the secular way.

Having a life of faith means that we embrace the concept that this life is lived not for the sake of our time here on earth but rather as preparation for our eternal life. As we reach our forties and fifties, we come closer to the end of our life and we naturally become serious about the concept of eternal life. The older we become, the more serious we are. Ordinarily, the intensity of love declines as people age. If our perception of eternal life has strong roots, then our love will grow stronger and deeper as we get older.

How often have you been confused by the changes taking place in our world today? If our focus on eternal life is clear and unchanging, we will overcome the insecurities of our changing environment. We will be able to digest all the circumstances of our lives, the joys and sorrows that come our way.

Adam and Eve were created as God's true love partners. There is no question about this. Accordingly, we ought to live as God's true love partners. This is not only a theory. We can allow this dynamic to work in our lives and put it into practice each day. Once we realize the power of true love, we will strive against adversity to walk the road of true love.

In daily life, we will always feel the security that comes from the belief in eternal life. When this conviction overflows from within us, our lives will be secure. This has important implications for the education of our children. If it is clearly explained to them, young people readily embrace the concept of eternal life. They are uniquely blessed to feel eternal life resonate in their minds and bodies.

Until they reach puberty, boys and girls possess a purity of character having nothing to do with the Fall. They reflect the original character of Adam and Eve, who were pure until they reached that age. Because of this, it is vital that young people know God deeply. Through knowledge of God, we can understand our inseparable relationship with Him. In order to know this, young people first need to understand the concept of eternal life. We always need to be aware of this.

Earthly life and eternal life

How long do you think you will live? All of us think we will live until we are seventy or eighty years old. It is hard to imagine that we will die before then. In this regard, we can all be considered greedy.

In truth, even those who seem confident that they will live a long time have no idea when they are going to die. It could be as soon as today or tomorrow. We may even die during a meal or while we are sleeping. You probably have the idea "I am still young, and so I can live for another forty or fifty years.” Does God guarantee anyone a long life span?

Imagine that you knew you would die within a year. You would have to prepare for your passing in a very short period of time. With this newfound urgency, you might actually be happier. After all, you would be able to prepare for death in less time. The less time you use to prepare for death, the less time you will waste in your life. And if you prepare well, you will build a home for your eternal life.

During your short time on earth, have you loved God? You want to become one with God and you want to love God, yet you cannot. God is telling you, "You need to be a person who loves!" While we are living in this world, we always need to give our best. We need to invest twenty-four hours a day to bring even one more person to God's love.

The highest standard of dedication to God is one that does not want to stop to eat or sleep. We should not be consumed by worry over worldly needs. How long do you wish to live? What if God told you that you had to die tonight? What legacy would you leave behind? Would you leave behind something of which God would be proud?

The shorter we expect our physical life to be, the more value we will find in it. We can ask ourselves, "How much do I love others? How much do I love my family and my clan? What does it mean to love others, to love my family, to love my clan?" This serves as the foundation to love all humanity. It is a wise approach to life. You will not lose if you live this way.

Our destiny is to live an eternal life

The purpose of a life of faith is to seek the world of eternal life and God's eternal love. Our life of faith is to seek God's eternal love. The way of a life of faith is to discover and rejoice in God's joy as our own. By living this way, we become one with God's eternal love and eternal life.

Accordingly, it is most important for people of faith to invest our energy unceasingly for God. Based on the information we receive through our five senses, our value as human beings is connected to how we live our lives based on true love. This is why we need to think once again about whether the relationships we have with others are based on true love. You must understand that if you cannot take that position, you will be stopping and retreating, and will be doing something you will come to regret.

Human beings live forever, beyond their earthly life. The reason the world's religions have expanded throughout history, against the backdrop of every culture, is because our human destiny is to live an eternal life.

We are to live in our own era, and in harmony with the entire universe. Once we reach the limit of life on earth, we continue life in an eternal, unlimited world. Such a world exists in reality. Even those who do not believe it exists, or who do not fully comprehend it, have postulated eternal life. They did this in order to help and comfort humanity through its suffering and pain.

How can we be satisfied if we know that religions teach this kind of destiny? I assure you that it exists. I am not the one who has decided that it exists. This was decided an eternity ago. It is something that could be proclaimed with certainty at the beginning of the universe. This means that the issue of your eternal life, the issue of religion, and the issue of God will all be resolved at the same time. They are all connected.

The reason we have eternal life

For what purpose and in what position did God create humankind? Man and woman were created to be God's true love partners. We were to have God's absolute and unique value. This is a startling revelation! How much is the value of each person's life? In this light, the value of each person's life is infinite. Even the entire universe cannot replace the value of one person in the eyes of God. All people were to be born in true love, to live and grow in true love, and even to die in true love. They do not simply disappear. God is eternal, unchanging and unique. We stand as the eternal object of God's true love. Therefore, we are created to live eternally. Our eternal life has its roots in our relationship with God, as His partner in true love.

What kind of person in the world is the person who has become the truest? The one who is the truest is the one who has become one with God and can receive God's love from the position of His child. The life that this kind of person lives together with God is a true life.

No matter who they are, people want to be the best. When I reach the top position, then God is mine and I am God's. When this happens, because I become God's son or daughter and become one with God, then to whom does the universe belong? It belongs to me.

If there is something that God loves the most, is that thing made to be with God for one day, for ten years or a hundred years, or is it made to be with God for all eternity? It is made to be with God for all eternity. It is the same with people. After a person is born, when they die, is it better if they are gone or better if they live on eternally? People live eternally because they are the object partners that are most precious to the absolute God.

Do you want eternal life or not? Of course, you want eternal life. When something is precious to you, would you take it with you if you had to flee somewhere, or would you leave it behind? You would take it with you. You want to speak proudly about it and continue to speak proudly about it for days. You would want to leave it for your descendants when you die. You would want it to remain forever. It is the same with God. If God is an absolute, eternal Being, then the object partner whom God loves also lives eternally. That's why people want to live eternally. You need to understand this clearly. This is why God, who is an absolute Being, seeks beloved sons and daughters who have the value of eternal life.

Because God created us, we resemble God. Because God is eternal, we also have eternal natures, so our minds never get old. This is why people have eternal life: in order to be beings with the value of God's masterpiece of creation. Human beings are to be the lords of creation. This is where our spirit becomes apparent. We are beings with a spiritual side. When we say that people are the lords of creation, it means we have a spirit. As spiritual beings, we have eternal life.

The eternal object partner of love for the Creator

Let us discover the truth of eternal life. God is a being of wisdom. If God had not established the concept of love, God would have been very lonely, not feeling joy or anger, happiness or sadness. As a consequence, since God's love is absolute, its loss through the Fall led Him to experience indescribable misery and almost hopeless sorrow throughout history. No one has ever understood this; no one has been able to fully comfort God.

Since losing His son and daughter, God has never been satisfied. God, in the depth of His heart, wants to re-create this long-awaited love partner. God wants to embrace human beings as children. God will travel any distance to meet them. Only by meeting these sons and daughters can God express joy to the fullest. In actuality, God created the entire universe for these precious children.

Consider the earth's atmosphere. When a low-pressure system forms, a high-pressure system appears automatically. God is the King of true wisdom, so He designed us to invest and forget what we have invested. This creates a spontaneous and natural circular motion of giving and receiving in daily life. This constant cycle of giving and receiving leads to eternal life.

I want to be clear: As long as one lives for the sake of others, one will never perish. A life of giving will surely grow and progress steadily. The person who lives thus will eventually take a central position as the nucleus of society.

When God seeks an absolute object partner for true love, who would merit such a position? It is natural to conclude that God's object partner for love would have to be human beings. That is why human beings are held to be the most precious part of God's creation.

When we are able to accept that we are the eternal true love partners of the Creator, we can easily understand that we live for eternity. The concept of eternity naturally follows from this. It takes place right here. The religious world must bear in mind that the foundation of eternal life is the relationship of true love. In its simplest terms, eternal life stems neither from man nor from woman; it stems from God's true love.

Only true love provides salvation

Christians proclaim that any individual can possess eternal life just by believing in Jesus. This is a beautiful idea. I ask them how one can secure eternal life, and they answer, "Just believe.” Please consider that the life of the spirit has to be continuous. Considering this, you know you follow this path forever. The functioning of the physical body is continuous. For instance, our circulatory system, nervous system and brain function continuously and smoothly. In order for this to happen, the body consumes a great deal of energy. With this in mind, how would you answer the question of how to secure eternal life? The life of the spirit also has continuity. Are you truly able to claim, "My eternal life is guaranteed through faith alone"? Does salvation come from believing, and nothing else? It absolutely does not. True salvation has to be continuous, from this physical world to the spirit world, and this comes through the practice of true love.

According to the principles by which God created this world, only a true person can become God's true love partner. Only with true love can one become such a person and obtain eternal life. If you are in the realm of true love, you are able to see where you will be living in the spirit world and on the earth.

Have you ever heard about how the rats on a ship will run down the mooring rope to find safety on land when the ship is sinking? Even small animals like rats know how to save their lives; however, people, who are the leaders of everything, cannot do so. This is because of the Fall of humankind.

The fundamental question is how to free our lives from evil love, evil life and evil lineage. Only in this context does liberation have any meaning. Liberation means becoming free from something, doesn't it? Only complete liberation from evil brings true freedom, and true freedom is self-sustaining.

We are created to live an eternal life. We are similarly created to practice true love. Furthermore, we are to practice true love here on the earth. When we engage ourselves and love many things in this world, these things become the foundation that ensures our eternal life.

In other words, everything we do in this world is training for eternal life. We need true life and true love forever.

We are fully capable of living forever! We desire an eternal life! In our search for eternal life, what does not change? Only true love does not change! Everything in this universe changes. Everything in the environment changes; yet true love does not change. True love does not change because it is the central core of all life. Why is it that true love does not change?

It is because true love is the center. The center will remain intact, even if everything that surrounds it disappears. True love is the center of the universe; it is one with God's love. Consequently, as long as God is unchanging, true love is unchanging. 

What does true love mean? A husband desires that his wife be better than he is. A wife also wants her husband to surpass her, and parents want their children to surpass them. Why do we have this feeling in common? It is because we are all created in the very image of God. In other words, even God wants His object partners in love to be better than Him, in the same sense that parents want their children to surpass them. Can you deny this?

God is absolute, and at the same time God is our Parent.

Can parents impose an absolute standard upon their  children  that they  do not take upon themselves as well? No, even our Parent God cannot. In light of this, our value is the highest in the universe. When true love is at the center, we are more valuable than even God.

An eternal life connected to God's true love

In fact, in the realm of true love we can have a value even higher than that of God. This is why our minds entertain the highest of aspirations, and we truly can feel that nothing is impossible because all people are equal. Indeed, everything would be possible if we were not fallen.

God originally intended that God's children rule this universe from the position of highest value. We were not to have been sidetracked or manipulated in any way. To confirm this, simply look into your mind. The mind desires complete freedom. No one wants his or her mind to be controlled. This is true of all people. Once we secure the position of true love, we are totally free. We can travel anywhere. We can travel to God's throne and become God's friend.

Since God created us as partners of true love, it is natural to conclude that we can enjoy eternal life. Clearly, in order for a man or woman to live an eternal life, he or she needs to dwell in the realm of true love. Only through true love is abundant eternal life possible.

Why? The origin, motive and process of God's creation center on true love. No result can come without a process, and the process to complete perfection is based upon the practice of true love. The complete perfection of mind and body is possible only when they both belong to the realm of true love.

The limitless origin, the process of creation, the cause and the ideal, all originate from true love. This is because God exists for eternity upon the foundation of true love. God's own eternal life is centered on true love.

Therefore, we also live with true love as our center. In this way, we create the realm of eternal life. In order to find this realm, we need to practice true love in daily life.

Even if we are not sure where in the spirit world God dwells, at least we need to understand clearly that God is the center of true love. The power of true love is the fastest and the most direct power. True love travels in a straight line. Why do you think I emphasize true love so fervently? It is because of my direct experience of this truth. Once you experience God and the eternal world, you too will never be able to have an indifferent attitude toward life. 

Knowing about God, eternal life and true love

First, we need to know God. Second, we need to know our eternal life. Third, we need to know true love. True love means giving more than 100 percent of oneself. In this way we can find eternal life. Without true love, there is no eternal life. Without eternal life, we cannot meet God.

How can you prepare for the world of the future? First, be altruistic. Second, practice true love. Third, seek eternal life. With the sincere practice of these virtues, we can manage the world in the coming age. The opposite way is the self-centered way of life, which is the worldview of Satan.

In contrast to Satan's love, what is true love? True love is to invest beyond the point of your life and death. Without investing yourself beyond the point of life and death, there is no true love. I would like you to know that I have poured my life, my heart, and the resources of our church into America. Through this kind of practice, true love is actualized. Without actualizing true love, there is no eternal life.

Why is this? The fundamental root of evil life is Satan's lineage. Our lineage belongs to Satan. Our love belongs to Satan. God's love transcends Satan's love. And so the Bible teaches: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment” (Matt. 22:37-38). What does this really mean? Loving God with all your soul and mind means to give your life completely to God. The second commandment is "Love your neighbor as yourself.” What does this mean? It tells us to love others even at the cost of our lives. We have to invest ourselves in this way of life.

Then why do we need to commit ourselves with total intensity? Unless we commit ourselves to this degree, first, we cannot make Satan surrender. Second, we cannot free ourselves from the fallen environment in which we live. Third, we cannot eradicate our bondage to Satan's lineage by ourselves. Even though we may be able to free ourselves from our fallen environment, we cannot deal with Satan's lineage. We need the power of true love, which is greater than our life.

The world after death is connected to love

There is no concept of time for God. This means that the beginning and the end are the same in eternity. Likewise, the present and the future are the same. Then what, within God, harmonizes everything and enables God to dwell in peace? This is a serious question. What is it, then? It is not God's almighty power. It is not God's omniscience. It is nothing other than the power of love. Even God Himself responds unconditionally to true love. This is because God does not need anything other than true love.

Most people agree that we will enter the spirit world upon our death. What does that mean? The spirit world is not just the dwelling place of the departed. It is connected to true love. The starting point of God's creation is true love. Therefore, once we secure true love in the physical world, it will be secured in the spirit world as well. Because it is connected to true love, the spirit world is not the world of death. This alone tells us how powerful true love is.

Through the perfect relationship of vertical and horizontal, harmonious movement in all directions—up and down, right and left, forward and back—can take place. When vertical and horizontal are disconnected, there is no harmony. In that case, there can be no unity. 

True love alone can connect vertical and horizontal. This brings about unity and harmony. The central thought of the Unification Church, based on the perspective of the Divine Principle, is that the ideal world is centered on true love.

Ladies and gentlemen, God wants to guide humankind. God breathes through true love. Since the rhythm of the universe is in harmony with God, the universe exists for eternity. In God's true love we can find eternal life. You need to come to this point, so that you can belong to the realm of God's breathing.

That is why, when husband and wife connect with true love, they find complete joy. When the rhythm of true love is in balance, we can love one another. In this atmosphere there is only one direction in our life. That direction is centered on God.

The Blessing is the gateway to the kingdom of God

Both the spirit world and the physical world move in conjunction with true love. The universe maintains a natural balance, centering on the vertical axis of true love. What is the common denominator of the universe? What is the universal norm, by which people of the past and the present can live together for eternity? What is the origin of human desire? The answer to all these questions is the same. The answer is true love. The norm is not selfish love; it is true love. Then, what is true love? Vertically and horizontally, it connects everywhere at a precise ninety-degree angle. It fits into an Oriental-style house or a Western-style house, into a house facing south or a house facing north. Only the practice of true love can embrace people of all races, all nations and all religions.

There are more than six billion people living in this world at present. Yet there are not many among the world's population who understand the meaning of the marriage Blessing. It was the Unification Church that first used the word “Blessing” with its special meaning in relation to marriage. We have now conducted many such marriage Blessings.

Where will humanity head in the future? Humanity can enter the kingdom of God by passing through the gate of this Blessing. There are millions of Christians in our world today, and Christianity itself can enter the kingdom of God through the gate of this Blessing.

Some may complain that the message Reverend Moon and I are teaching is self-serving. If they want to believe this, that is their choice. Nonetheless, I am here to convey the message that the Unification marriage Blessing is the true road for all fallen people to take.

No matter how much persecution it may bring, our mission is to connect the spirit world and the physical world through this Blessing, and open the way for people to enter the kingdom of God.

Other religious people think of salvation in terms of the individual. They believe that as long as their faith is strong, they can enter the kingdom of heaven as individuals. From the viewpoint of God's original ideal, we were never intended to enter the kingdom of heaven as single people. We enter only with our loving spouse and family.

Spiritual life as husband and wife

The real purpose of life is to walk forward on the road of true love. We are to grow through harmonious relationships of true love. We have to carefully maintain the ideal of true love in our hearts. We are actually the representatives of the spirit world. Let us constantly strive to spread true love. Let us sow the seeds of true love throughout our lives.

When we bear the fruit of true love and enter the eternal spirit world as a loving couple, we will be embraced by God's eternal love. We then truly become one with God.

Even though the physical body grows old, as long as we live as husband and wife centering on true love, our spiritual body will actually become younger! This means that the longer we live, the more handsome or beautiful our spiritual body becomes.

Our spirit is our internal self. At the proper time we simply will shed the physical body. Our physical body may feel that it does not want to retire; yet with the coming of old age, it eventually surrenders its life. On the other hand, our spiritual body, like a chestnut in autumn, becomes more solid and more handsome as it becomes our physical body's successor.

We need to love the things of the material world, which includes our physical body and the food that nourishes it. We love what is close to us before loving God directly.

Why is marriage necessary?

By loving all things, we absorb the essence of the creation. By doing so, we love and nourish the physical body. Your first parents, of course, are your physical parents, and your second parent is the earth. From the earth we receive essential elements the body needs in order to grow. In this way our earth is our second parent.

After being nurtured and cared for by our second parent, we prepare to meet our third parent. There is a process through which we pass in order to realize this. That process is our physical death. We do not meet our third parent free of charge. To be able to return to our third parent, we need to resemble our original Parent, God.

Why, then, do we get married? Very simply, we marry in order to resemble God. God exists as a being of dual characteristics. In God, the dual characteristics are completely harmonized as one. When God's dual characteristics manifest in our world, they do so as man and woman. Accordingly, at the proper time a man and a woman are like a seed. They unite to become one. Thus, husband and wife return to God. Together, we are a reflection of God's original nature. 

We need marriage because it is the way to develop true love. In marriage we ripen as a seed of God. Our entire life is to center upon true love. We are supposed to be born in true love; we are designed to grow in true love, live centered on true love, and return to true love when we die.

The way of true love is living for the sake of others. This is the purpose of a holy marriage. If we take any other path, we are taking the wrong direction for eternal life. The marriage Blessing and eternal life stem from God working through True Parents' love. Through our union with the True Parents, we can fulfill God's original hope for the individual, the family, the nation, the world and the entire cosmos. Through True Parents we can find our original homeland, the starting place for the kingdom of God on earth and in heaven.

With this foundation in place, we can welcome an era in which God is our sovereign. The society that does so will never perish. It will continuously prosper and reach its fullest strength.

I sincerely ask that you contemplate deeply the meaning of this message. If you practice it, you will find the way to receive God's abundant blessing and eternal life. 

May God truly bless you. Thank you very much.