Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 133

Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 5: True Family
Chapter 3: Principles and Order in the Family
Section 1: Family Harmony Makes All Go Well, 01-10

CHAPTER 3  Principles and Order in the Family

Section 1.  Family Harmony Makes All Go Well

(1)  A family should consist of parents, a husband and wife, and children. Only then can there be a foundation for happiness. God’s purpose in seeking to dwell with humanity is also for His own happiness. God’s venturing forth to find a foundation of happiness, fulfilling His ideal, cannot take place apart from human beings. That point of connection can be found only through His relationship with us. Just as we feel happy when everything we need for our emotional well-being is present in our family, God likewise longs to feel happy in such a setting.

The family principle of three generations living together

(2)  The love of God is manifested as parental love, conjugal love, and filial love. These three great loves make it possible for people to exist forever, transcending even the most elevated human view of love. This is why people feel joy when these three great loves are united. When they are fulfilled, happiness is also realized. When they are lacking, misfortune sets in. Are motherless people happy? The emptiness they feel translates into misery. Are fatherless people happy? Fatherless people envy those who have a father.  Happiness, like love, has no room for envy. If you envy someone or something, you cannot say you are happy.

(3)  The grandfather, grandmother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sisters-in-law, and grandchildren should all live together. Living together with God, the three generations corresponding to the formation, growth, and completion stages will settle down. You can love God if you know how to love not only your father and mother but also your grandparents. You will be able to love God only when you place your grandparents above your father and mother and know how to love them in that position. So, why are spouses, parents, and sons and daughters indispensable? It is because you can attend God completely only when you have all the members of the family. It is a fundamental principle that you should have parents and sons and daughters.

(4)  The grandfather and grandmother are the most experienced people in the world. They are the ones who resemble God the most. Because they are old, they do not sleep very long. So you should think, "Oh, my grandfather is like God, who protects my family without sleeping! My grandfather has become old by protecting us! I can see his age reflected in the wrinkles on his face." This means you should obey your grandparents. Isn't this beautiful? When the grandparents are not sleeping, they are praying, "God, bless my sons and daughters. Please bless them." While praying, they will guide you, saying, "My love, it is dangerous to go out today. Please listen to me." The universe protects those who try to live in the original, ideal way. When they love each other, the grandmother and grandfather dance, the mother and father dance, and the brothers and sisters dance. The universe protects those who live by this model. If someone were about to kill such a person, the universe would automatically prevent it.

(5)  You must complete the four-position foundation by attaining perfect maturity as an individual, perfect unity as a couple, and the growth of your children to adulthood. Otherwise, what was meant to be achieved through the three generations of your family will be lost. Like a tree that buds in the spring, grows through the summer, and bears fruit in the autumn, we live our lives as children, couples, and parents. When you have your own sons and daughters, you stand in a position equal to that of God. You can participate in His work; you can even kiss Him. He will then bestow everything upon you, saying, "All that I have is yours." Whoever achieves the standard of the ideal that God desires to see can immediately inherit everything from Him.

(6)  The place where the invisible God and substantial human beings unite is the origin. This origin begins with the family—God's family and True Parents' family. This family has to complete the four-position foundation. It should go through three generations—the grandfather's generation, the father's generation, and the grandson's generation. Because of the Fall, God was unable to experience a family of three generations. We should establish a standard through three generations. When we find the standard centering on one mind, one body and one heart, which is the most vertical standard in the world, we need to connect it through three generations.

(7)  Your family is the fruit of all the sacrifices of history. With material things representing the Old Testament Age, sons and daughters representing the New Testament Age, and you yourselves representing the Completed Testament Age, we have to repay the debts of these three ages. Since you are in the position to pay indemnity for these historical ages, do not treat your belongings, sons, and daughters, or spouse as your own. Following this type of public law, this principle of Heaven, you should become men and women, grandfathers and grandmothers, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, and sons and daughters who can adopt, evaluate and live according to a fundamental attitude that will lead you to complete oneness with the ideal. When these positions unite together, the family is formed. Unless we build a foundation of love upon which to inherit this ownership and right of dominion, our families cannot form the initial foundation for the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Family harmony makes all go well

(8)  In the expression Ga hwa man saseong, which means "Family harmony makes all go well," the character hwa (和) means "to harmonize." On the other hand, in hwahak (chemistry), the character hwa (化) indicates substances harmonizing as their original essence changes. Yet the character hwa (和), as in the word il-hwa (one harmony), does not indicate a change in one's essence when harmony is made. So, whether you are a man or a woman, you should harmonize with your partner without changing your essential self. Which is more valuable? Of the two, harmony without changing your original essence is better than harmony at the cost of changing your essence. The union of man and woman is a form of harmony. The unity between adult and child is a form of harmony. The unity between man and woman, old and young, not to mention front and back, right and left, and above and below, are all examples of harmony. All forms of harmony lead to prosperity. This is because harmony is the standard of ideal existence. Everything supports harmony and wants to attach itself to that which is in harmony. You can say that harmony leads to prosperity because it draws everything to unite with it.

(9)  It is said that "Family harmony makes all go well." Ideal relationships between the grandfather and grandmother, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters lead to success and prosperity. Nonetheless, the grandmother and grandfather should not love only each other; husband and wife should not love only each other, and brothers and sisters should not love only each other. Grandmother and son, son and son, daughter-in-law and son, vertically and horizontally, front and back, right and left—everyone should be in harmony.  The character hwa means "to level.” In hwahak (chemistry), hwa refers to the unity of substances that change when they combine. But the hwa in the word for harmony implies no change in the essence of those who have achieved harmony.

(10)  In the Orient, we have the expression, "Family harmony makes all go well." It means that if you want peace,  you have to base it on love. This principle applies to the universe, to the East and West, and everywhere. Would you like to live in a home for the elderly? I do not like such places. Anywhere the parents go, the children should follow; the whole family needs to follow. I am concerned, however, that reality is not like this. If a family cannot live together, where can we find harmony in the world, and how can we live together in the kingdom of heaven?