Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 145

Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 5: True Family
Chapter 4: The Education of Children and the Kingdom of Heaven in the Family
Section 4: Children's Education, 16
Section 5: The Path that Children Must Follow, 04

(16)  When you educate your children, I hope you can say, "I went this way for the sake of God’s Will, so I want you to go this way too." When a husband, wife, or parents die, they should be able to say the following words as their last will and testament: "In my conscience, I have not one iota of shame. Please follow the same way I have gone. This is the best gift in the whole universe I can give you."This is the will of all wills. You can add, "If you do as I bid you, the world will be yours; God and the universe will belong to you."

(17)  As a couple, we should be able to show our sons and daughters an example of how a husband and wife should live. Our children should be inspired to say, "Our father and mother have such a good relationship. I want to marry as soon as possible and live the way they do." It is the father and mother who should be able to teach the children how to lead their lives. Everything depends on the father and mother.

(18)  The family is the headquarters of education. When I married my wife, we promised to each other that we would not show our tears in front of our children. What sin do children have? No matter how angry, bitter or sorrowful we are, no matter how much we have been crying, when we hear their voices as they come to greet us in the morning, we need to show our children the same face we showed them yesterday. A mother should hold her children lovingly and let them kiss her and then kiss their father.

(19)  Where there is no unity between husband and wife, there is neither freedom nor peace. If you really want peace through the unity of husband and wife, first you have to unite your mind and body absolutely. This is the first article of my education. To this day, many religious leaders have thought that they themselves were good, while the world was bad. Yet that is not the case, because they have not achieved the first article. If a mother and father, as a husband and wife, do not live in unity, heaven and earth will ignore them. On the other hand, when a couple is united and three generations of a family are united, the whole world will come to you.

(20)  You have to be filial sons and daughters and loyal patriots. Until now, from God’s viewpoint, there have been no real devoted children, loyal patriots, or saints. You have to pray for your brothers and sisters as you would for the world. When you do so, along with the Parents, you can be recognized as a holy son or daughter, and stand before God. This is the formula. You have to educate your children by showing them how you attend me in your home. Teach them, "This man went through a path of suffering that changed history. By him, the world is blessed. Let us attend him in our family. It will be a great blessing for our family to do so."

(21)  As fathers and mothers, please do not let your children see you quarrel. You should never allow this to happen. You should promise this between husband and wife. This applies to my family too. To this day, my children say, "Our mother and father never fight. They are the best mother and father in the world." We have to teach our children to think that their parents are better than any king, that they are the hero and heroine of hope, greater than anyone else. If you have a son he should be able to say, "I want to be like my dad." Your daughter should be able to say, "I want to be a woman like my mom." You have to raise your children like this. This is true education.

(22)  Your children should be able to testify that they never in their life saw their mother and father fight. I know there are all sorts of situations that can arise in life, but even so, you should not point fingers, push and shove, or drag each other down. No matter how upset the father is, he should not look at his son with an angry face. This is my philosophy. That is why my children think their father and mother are always experiencing peace and love as a couple. They think their mother is the best of all mothers and their father is the best of all fathers. The mother and father are each a second God. When you ask your children, "Do you want God or do you want your mother and father?" they should answer, "I want my mother and father." Even God likes that answer. That is something precious.  The education that leads to this has the highest value of all.

Section 5.  The Path that Children Must Follow

(1)  When you reach your twenties, you are bound to marry and start a family, for which you have responsibility, and then you enter a competition. All families are competing.  Even brothers and sisters compete among themselves, and parents compete in society to maintain their livelihood. In this way, everything is a competition. In order not to fall behind, you should not let yourself make the mistake of following your own interest. You cannot afford to lose a year or even a month but should keep going on a clear path to benefit your family. Even figuring out the best way to go is a competition. If you fall behind by a year, it will be more difficult to catch up. Children will come, but you are already a step behind. It is like shooting an arrow. You may have the same energy and stamina as everyone else when you finally aim and let go, but the arrows of those who let go first will fly first. For your arrow to catch up, you have to provide several times more propulsion, and not many people can do that. Therefore, during the time of your youth, the question is how you assimilate each year. That's why you need to set a clear goal of your own and follow through with it. Before your ship sets out on a voyage, you have to know where it is going. You set the direction, start the engines, and then head out to sea.  If you have to come back after you started your journey, you will face more difficulty.

(2)  If you follow your original mind, the whole universe will open up before you.  The original mind is faster and more forceful than a flying bullet. Once you enter such a state, you can converse with your own mind. You can hold a conversation with yourself. As soon as you consider doing something, the answer as to what to do will already be right in front of you. Being in such a state of spirituality, would you not know where to go? The way you ought to go surely will unfold before you, and the forces of the universe will help you follow it. Even if you feel pushed into a place where you are tested, once you are there, everything will assist you. In fact, it is only then that you will be able to do great things. This great power under-girds the lives of true men and women. They are aware of this infinite power, and it propels them forward in the direction they wish to take. They can tell in a second if their direction is wrong. You make this decision through your own effort, but from then on, everything will be taken care of. To get there, you need to decide by yourself on the direction you should take. This is something you alone must determine.  It is something you yourself know best.

(3)  Your youth is an important period. The decisions you make then will affect your entire life. If you decide something and you push through with it for forty, fifty, or sixty years, holding on to it and making effort day and night, whether you are eating or working, asleep, or awake, you surely will become a world-class person. So once you decide something in your youth, you should follow through, even for your whole life, no matter how difficult it is. Even if your children and parents oppose you, the nation and world oppose you, even if God kicks you away, you have to continue. If you keep going like this, you will become a global figure. The time of your youth is that important.

(4)  In your studies, you may have a favorite subject. Think about the importance of choosing what to study. The subject should be something that you value, that suits your aptitude and catches your interest. It should be something that you will enjoy all the time when you are a child, a young adult, middle-aged and in your senior years—in the past, present and future. You have to focus on and study that subject. Then you have to explore eminent figures in that field of the past, present, and future and compare yourself with them. If you are not yet good enough, you need to double your effort until you reach the top in your field. If you pioneer the way to become the world’s best in your field, you can take the position of teaching prominent leaders in every field. Then this world can be restored in a short time.