Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 155

Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 6: True Creation
Chapter 1: The Significance of the Creation 
Section 3: Nature and the Lessons It Offers, 02-12

My childhood immersed in nature

(2)  When I was a child roaming through the mountains, I carefully observed every flower. There was no flower I did not know. I loved nature so much that I would forget to go home. Sometimes, after playing until sunset, I would fall asleep on the hillside, and my mother and father had to come and find me and carry me home, even at midnight. I was that fond of nature.

(3)  I could identify all the birds in the mountains. When a new migrating bird came through, I wanted to know what the male and female looked like, but at that time there were no books available about birds. So I had to follow these new birds and do my own research. All week long, forgetting mealtimes, I would wait until a bird appeared. Then I would follow it until I found its nest. I would see its eggs, and confirm, "Aha! This bird has this kind of eggs!" My heart would not rest until I had satisfied my curiosity; only then could it settle down.

(4)  There was a big tree in front of our house. It was quite a large tree, and there was a magpie’s nest in it. Once I knew the bird had laid its eggs, I really wanted to see the eggs. I could not rest until I saw them. Finally, I climbed the tree in the evening to look, and then I climbed the tree again at dawn to look at the eggs before the mother bird left the nest. For several days, each time I climbed up I found one more egg. Since I climbed up so often, in the end, I became good friends with the magpie. In the beginning, the magpie would screech and threaten to peck me with her beak. But since I went up every day and did not harm her eggs, finally she grew quiet and didn't mind me. In this way, I observed what she was doing in the nest and what kind of food she fed her young.

(5)  Magpies actually build rather large nests. They apply mud to the inside of their nests to make them very solid. Also, they know from which direction the wind blows, and they make the entrance to their nests on the opposite side. The first time I climbed up to see a magpie's nest, the mother magpie cried out noisily. But after I had been up once or twice, I saw her lay her eggs. I climbed the tree every day twice a day, in the morning and at lunchtime. At first, the bird caused quite a commotion, but after I climbed up and down the tree like that for a week, she realized I wouldn't harm her and calmed down. During rainy periods I could not climb the tree for a few days. When the sun returned and dried everything out, I would climb up and the magpie would be so happy to see me, chattering, "Caw, caw, please come up!" When you are intimate with things, you can go anywhere.  What would happen if you loved the things God created more than you loved God? If you love a painter's art more than you love the painter, you win the artist's heart. It's the same between you and God. When you love God's handiwork in nature, He will come to you. He will teach you, "Here is why this is like this." Nature is that precious.

(6)  When I was a child, there was a chestnut tree just outside my room. It stood next to the outhouse. It was a very tall tree, its leaves so fresh and brilliant and shiny green. Cicadas clung to the branches; it was the highest place around. They seemed to know that the highest place was the best place to sing. They needed to sing from a high place for their song to be effective. You cannot imagine how happy I felt whenever I heard that sound. It's so refreshing. You should stop and listen to their song sometime. Village women would often stop their sewing to listen, drawn into a dreamlike state by the sound.

(7)  When a bee buries its head deep in an acacia flower, totally engaged in sucking the nectar, with its abdomen jutting out, even if you pull on its abdomen with tweezers, it will not let go, even if its body is pulled apart. Isn't that incredible? It is shocking to think that someone would pull a bee apart, but it is even more shocking that the nectar's taste keeps the bee sucking anyway. When I saw this, I thought, "Oh, this teaches me something. I must be like this."

(8)  When I go to the ocean, I can do all kinds of work. I know what kinds of crab and what kinds of fish live in the sea. The ocean is quite far from my hometown, so I could go there only when vacation time came, and then I went to the ocean every day. I caught crabs and eels, searching everywhere along the shore. I learned about everything that was going on there. Next, I tried fishing. I found out what kinds of fish lived in different locations, and I began fishing in those areas. In particular, I was the champion at catching creatures like eels.

(9)  During summer vacation I caught more than forty eels every day. Actually eels live in rather deep water. They don't like to show themselves. Instead, they stay inside deep holes to protect themselves. They feel safe and comfortable with their bodies covered in the hole, even though their heads or tails may poke out. That is their natural instinct. Their holes look something like crab holes, but I can tell at a glance if it is an eel hole. I am an expert at that.

(10)  When a hen is sitting on her eggs to hatch them, she keeps her eyes wide open and keeps turning the eggs with her feet. By the end, she loses most of the white feathers on her underside. That is how intently she focuses on hatching her eggs. Do you think she would feel good or bad, sitting like that for such a long time? I was so interested and curious about this when I was young that I looked into the henhouse every day. In the beginning, the hen tried to chase me away, but when I looked in three times every day, in the end, the hen just accepted it. When you watch a hen hatching her eggs, she is adamant about protecting them, as if saying, "No one can touch my eggs! I will never forgive that." The hen behaves like a queen with great authority, and she will not forgive anyone who harms her eggs. Even the rooster does not dare to challenge the authority of the hen. If you asked a rooster to sit on the eggs, he would surely run away after less than three hours. The hen’s instinctive power to sit and hatch her eggs is the power of love.

(11)  Magpies always make their nests in big trees. Magpies are considered auspicious birds. When a magpie chatters, "kawk, kawk, kawk!" we say good news is coming. It is interesting to observe a magpie's behavior. When you see a magpies nest, you can tell from which direction the wind will blow this year. If the wind will be from the east, the magpie prepares by building its nest entrance to the west. No one teaches a magpie how to build its nest, but each one is a masterpiece made of twigs.  You might think such a nest would leak when it rains, right? But as a final touch, the magpie plasters the inside of the nest with mud. This blocks the wind.  Also, the magpie arranges the twigs to slope in one direction so that when it rains, the raindrops will flow outward rather than into the nest. The twigs are also arranged in layers to prevent rain from flowing into the nest. I wonder who taught the magpie such amazing workmanship.

Nature's lessons in true love

(12)  When we think about all things of creation, we can see that everything has been prepared for the time when True Parents and God’s true love will appear. Everything in the mineral kingdom is in love; everything in the plant kingdom is in love. Butterflies, bees, animals—all are bound together in love. The flowers emitting their fragrance and putting forth their blossoms, together with the many sounds of nature—all are symbolic expressions of love. What is the relationship between a butterfly and a flower? A butterfly flits around looking for the flower, while the flower opens itself and displays its beauty to the world. This is how all things play together and move to the rhythm of the universe. Considering that God created the whole universe with love at its center, we realize how wonderful God is who made all this—this beautiful garden and harmonious museum of nature—for me. In summer, the cicadas sing in pairs, responding to each other. This is like a song of love. Everything is a textbook for us.