Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 114

Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 5: True Family
Chapter 1: True Families from the Viewpoint of God's Will
Section 1: What Is a Family?, 01-10

 

BOOK 5  True Family

CHAPTER 1  True Families from the Viewpoint of God's Will

Section 1. What Is a Family?

1 When we study the meaning of the word family, gajeong in Korean, the second character jeong (정) stands for garden. Parents and siblings in a family are like the colorful varieties of lovely flowers in a garden. The family should be a place where each member can be joyful, singing, and dancing. If family members fight each other, the garden will become a wilderness. When a flower hears harmonious music it grows well, but if it hears discordant music it cannot. The same goes for a family. When its members hear the melody of love they can grow wonderfully. What makes them do so is the heart of love.

2 In a family there are parents, husband and wife, sons, and daughters; and there are surely other relatives living around you. Family members include grandfather and grandmother, mother and father, husband and wife, and sons and daughters. It is not mere words that unite them. It is not money that draws them together, nor the necessity of living and eating together. Sharing the same house does not guarantee that family members will get along well. It is mutual affection, no matter who is older and who is younger, that allows them to overcome the difficult challenges of life together, in unity. Vertical and horizontal, left and right, front and back; within a family all these relationships are harmonized through the love not only of mother and father, of husband and wife, of brothers and sisters, but also of grandparents and grandchildren. The family with love as its core is the foundation upon which each of its members' bonds with others, moves, and acts. A family is based on love.

3 At home we have our grandfather and grandmother, our mother and father, our spouse, and our sons and daughters. What is good about a home? It is there that you find the embracing love of the grandfather and grandmother, and of the mother and father. You find the great love between husband and wife and the great love between brothers and sisters. It is people's original nature and tendency to seek the greatest love, so it is inevitable that we return to our family. The grandfather and grandmother are envoys of Heaven, and the father and mother, as the center of the family, represent the king and queen of the world. The grandfather and grandmother are the father and mother of the past, your own father and mother are the father and mother of the present, and you and your spouse are the father and mother of the future. When these three generations join as one, the past ages of the spirit world are connected to the historic realm of love on earth, going beyond the present family, and align with heavenly law in the future. Then all people of the world will be able to unite. The family is the core unit of harmony; ultimately all humanity must bind together as one ideal family.

4 The family is the smallest unit that connects the past, present, and future.  It is a microcosm of the world. As the grandfather, father, and son coexist in the family, they connect the past, present, and future. When the son has sons and daughters, he rises to the position of the father, and his father rises to the position of the grandfather. From the grandfather to the father to the son, these three generations are to unite into one. The links of the past, present, and future should unite them. No matter how much the world pitches and rolls, society will not adversely impact that sort of family. It will maintain a basis for happiness.

5 In the family there are the four levels: grandfather and grandmother, father and mother, you and your spouse, and your sons and daughters.  The world is the extension of these relationships. Thus, you need to love the people of the world whose ages are similar to the people in your family, in the same way, you love your family members. Just as your family loves and unites centered on the parents, so you should love and harmonize with all people according to the standard by which you love your own family members. In fact, God invested more to create His partners in love than for anything else. Likewise, you should love others even more than you love your own family members.

6 The universe is the expansion of the directions of north, south, east, and west that are represented by your grandfather and grandmother, your mother and father, you and your spouse, and your sons and daughters. The family is the ideal model wherein the different kinds of love become one; it is a textbook of love. Hence, we need to take all the types of love in the family and extend them to the world. When you relate with people from around the world who are of similar age to your grandfather and grandmother, no matter what race, respect them as you do your own grandparents. When you relate with people from the entire world who are of the same age as your father and mother, love them as you love your own mother and father. If you become such a person you can possess the kingdom of heaven; you can inherit the full scope of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Moreover, please honor all men and women in the world to the same degree you honor your husband or wife, and love all children in the world to the same degree you love your own children. The person who relates well with the entire world according to this teaching, for which the family serves as the textbook, becomes a prince or princess of God's love.

7 God is the cause, and the grandfather and grandmother living at home are the representatives of God. Our mother and father inherited the tradition of the grandparents and are connected directly to us in life and love, flesh, and blood. Our brothers and sisters share our direct bloodline.  Family members are our kin who are connected through true love, true life, and true flesh and blood. There is no question that this love is one unified core that cannot change, no matter where you go.

8 You actualize origin-division-union action through everyday life in the family. When you say goodbye to one another in the morning as you go to work, do so in joy, and when you meet again in the evening, do so in joy. When you return to your family, gather your family to talk about what happened that day, discuss it together, and suggest ways to improve. You have to connect the entire family through love and through laughter. The family becomes the children's haven of rest when they can say, "Our dad is the best! Our mom is the best! We really like it when you two love each other!" You have to become a couple who can build a family as the base of eternal joy and pride, such that your children will not want to go anywhere else.

9 Why do you like love? You like it because it is how you are designed.  When a mother and father love each other more than they love themselves, they are closer to the ideal. Love is a rope that binds the mother and father together into one. Steel chains rust over time and eventually break, but the rope of love lasts forever. Food or money cannot bind parents and children together; only love can bind them together. Unity among siblings is likewise possible only through love.

10  A family is not necessarily good just because it has a good house and good surroundings. No matter how shabby a family's house or environment may be, a good family is one that will cherish it as a haven of rest and build ties of love that endure despite all of life's challenges. There you will find the heart of parents and children who live for each other. This heart becomes the original hometown of memories and provides the motivation that directs our lives. It is the basis of our happiness. Why is that so? It is because there is a singular tie of love between parents and children. It is a lineal bond of love that no one can replace or invade.  There the love of parents and brothers and sisters becomes our motivating force. Our family members are the dearest to us in our everyday lives.