Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 282

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 10: Preparing the Ideal Environment Centering on the Providence of the Ocean and Latin America
Chapter 2: The Ocean Providence and Development of Marine Resources
Section 3: The Spirituality of Fishing, Paragraph 17-24

17   If you want to catch bigger fish, you have to drop your line near the bottom of the ocean. Small fish sometimes jump out of the water, but big fish do not jump. They think, "What's the point of jumping?" You need to cast your line so that the bait falls to about one hand span above the seabed. If you keep it there and let its scent spread, the fish will slowly approach the bait. A fish has to move its fins to swim. That is why you have to keep the hook one hand span above the seabed, so that the fish will have enough room to maneuver its fins. You need to calculate all these factors when you cast your line; then you can almost certainly catch a bigger fish. The salmon I caught most recently weighed 15.3 pounds. It was the largest salmon we had caught up to that point, and it was my last catch of the season. You have no idea how strong it was. We had to use a scooping net to lift it up, but we could not see the salmon clearly because the water was reflecting the sunset. About two-thirds of its body was in the net, but it had incredible strength, enough that if its head were free, it could have jumped out of the net. If we had not been careful enough, the fish could have cut our line.

18   Sometimes a fish bites as soon as a line is dropped. If you immediately begin pulling the line, you will lose it. You have to let your hook sink down further, until you know it is in deep water. A real fisherman does not pay attention to the small fish that nibble on the bait. He or she waits for the biggest fish to come, even though it is more distant, thinking, "I know you are biting; never mind the small ones that gather here." You have to catch that big one that is in the distance. That is how to fish well. I fish like that. Once I fished day and night for more than 40 days.

19   Hunting is not as ethical as fishing. A hunter has to wait out of sight to shoot the target animal. However, fishing is different. The fish comes to you and bites the bait. You can fish from the age of five until the day you die. Even if you think you are a champion at fishing, if you go to a different region, you have to change the way you fish because there are different fish there. If you keep on applying your own style of fishing instead of fishing the way it is done in that region, the fish will not bite. That is why wherever you go, you have to learn how to fish all over again. At the same time, wherever you go you should be able to teach others how to fish. Anyone can be a teacher or a student. That is how fishing makes people equal.

Location makes a difference even if you are fishing for the same species of fish, because they will eat different things depending on the location. That is why fishermen in different regions use different bait. When you move to another region, you have to learn their ways. It is different in each part of the world. This diversity is part of the fun of fishing.

The end of starvation 

True Parents continue to be concerned about the people who suffer from hunger and face starvation in places like Africa. This became much of Father's motivation for training members in fishing. He said that our missionaries in developing nations should be experts at fishing and setting up fish farms, to teach the people the skills they need in order to develop fish as an abundant food supply. This heart of wanting to save people from starvation bore fruit with the development of fish powder products that food aid programs are now utilizing as a protein supplement.

True Parents want to create model communities where people will inherit the fruit of the ocean providence and treasure it for hundreds or thousands of years. These will be communities whose residents dedicate their hearts and souls to fishing, with the same level of devotion that True Father offered when he went fishing, and where they live happily and share everything equally, without discrimination against anyone.

20  There are many wild animals in the tropical regions. We need to know how to hunt. We also need to be able to fish. If people know how to fish, they will never starve. Teaching people how to hunt is teaching them how to survive. In the past, the high priest performed rituals that included the offering of animals as sacrifices. I hunt wild animals to help make our members into high priests. It is a sacred task. Once you learn how to fish and hunt, I will make teams that can go into the wilds. I will send people on hunting and fishing missions to help those living in more difficult circumstances. We have to spread this idea throughout the world: wherever you go in the world, fishing and hunting are means to prevent serious food shortages.

21  Fishing is simple. Even in the remotest areas of Africa, women have sewing needles. You can make fishing hooks by heating and bending a needle with the flame of a candle. Long ago I made hooks in this way. You do not need to buy fishing line either. You can find nylon thread anywhere. Nylon thread works much better than silk thread. You can make weights by carving out bits of lead and hanging them in the water. You can make a float by cutting sorghum straw and attaching it to the line. Even without a fishing rod, all you need to do is to bait the hook and cast your line into the water. Fish are in abundant supply. Where there are bodies of water it is not a problem to find fish. The problem is that people do not know the best ways of fishing. I have felt that until now, there was not a leader to teach them. That is why I have been fishing.

22  People in developing countries may not know the best ways of fishing. When they know how to fish more effectively, they will never go hungry. In many places there are lakes and other bodies of water where fish are in abundant supply. We have to teach people about our advances in catching and farming fish. I have already begun doing that. All you need to fish is a line. You can find a needle anywhere. You can make a fishing hook by heating the needle with the flame of a candle. Then you can go fishing. You can find bait anywhere. It should not be a problem for one person to feed ten children every day. You can line up the fish end to end so they are as long as a person. There is an abundance of natural resources, but without good leadership it is hard to develop fully.

23  Around the world, 20 million people die of starvation each year. How can we save them from dying? I do not go fishing for fun. When I fish, I gaze at the ocean and think about those 20 million people who live across that great ocean. I have to open the way to save them even if it means offering my own flesh and blood. No one has ever considered this. Fishing is my strategy to take time to think about them. That is why I am trying to catch a lot of fish from the ocean and distribute them. Without the ocean, there is no way to save starving people. 

Although I am almost 80 years old, I still make time to go fishing, even in rain or snow. All the church leaders try to run away, making excuses and doing whatever they can to prevent me from going fishing. They do that because they do not understand why I am doing it. Suppose I were to rest; how many people would die while I rested?

Someday, the places where I fished with the church leaders will become holy grounds, simply because of the reason that we were fishing. If many people come forth in the future to inherit that spirit of fishing through my teachings, I believe they will inspire and motivate future generations, expanding the road to world salvation into an expressway. I am doing these things while thinking ahead a hundred or even a thousand years into the future.

24  As missionaries you need to develop your business sense. By doing so you can save the lives of the more than 20 million people around the world who starve to death each year. Where there is land, you can teach people how to farm; where there is water, you can teach them how to farm fish, so that people do not die of hunger. If everyone, including the women and children, knew the best ways of fishing, why would anyone die of starvation? Why would people die, when there is water and through fish farming they can produce as many fish as they need? That is why I go out fishing. 

You need to teach others how to fish well. You also need to teach them how to hunt. You do not know how many alligators and other wild animals might be lurking out there. I founded the Sightseeing and Hunting Federation for World Peace for the sake of the world. Why am I doing all this? It is because, as the True Parent, I want to take responsibility for those suffering from hunger. My heart is not to give up on anyone in the world. They are all our brothers and sisters.

Think about how it would be if those 20 million people, instead of starving to death, became Unificationists each year. How many people do you think we can save if the Unification Church takes the lead in doing these things on a global scale? That is why I am telling you to learn how to farm and fish and build fish farms as quickly as possible. The purpose is to save the people dying of hunger. I am telling you to go and pass on these skills to them.