Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 225

Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 8: Life of Faith and Training
Chapter 1: What Is a Life of Faith
Section 3: The Path of Faith, 16-26

(16)   When you assert yourself in front of fallen humankind, it can be inferred that you still have your fallen nature. From this point, you must completely break yourself down. If you cling to the shape and elements of your fallen nature, you have more to do to reach total self-abnegation. Taking oneself apart completely means total self-denial. The true, original, ideal hope of human beings cannot be attained by the self-assertive way of fallen people. This is the conclusion. This is why, as God pursues providential goals through religion, the path He upholds is not that of self-assertion but the path of absolute self-denial. Unless we set the standard starting with total self-abnegation, there are no means for fallen human beings to fulfill the Absolute Being's principle of partnership.

(17)  We must completely detach from our fallen nature. To cut free from fallen nature, we first must dissociate from our individual selves. Hence, we must be victorious as individuals—and then on the levels of the family, people, nation, world, and finally the cosmos. This would be the realm of complete freedom from fallen nature. When we finally discover ourselves as object partners to God, having overcome our fallen nature, we will immediately realize that God is watching over us, and come to know that, instead of simply believing in God, we are with God.

(18)  When you stand in front of Heaven, you have to reveal your shortcomings and recognize that you are a sinner. You need to become a lump of clay God can shape and mold as He pleases. This process is impossible if you assert or even acknowledge yourself. Thus, the biblical saying, "Those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 10:39) is validated. There is fallen nature everywhere in the body: there is fallen nature within these eyes, in these ears, in these lips. We must completely eliminate fallen nature. If God leads us one way, we must follow; if God takes us another way, we must go; if God tells us to extend our hand, we should do it; if God commands that we retreat, we must retreat. We should be absolutely willing to do as God wishes.

(19)  Changing one's perception or understanding is a frightening and difficult task.  Once acquired, a bad habit is difficult to change. This is why we have the adage, "Habits formed as a toddler continue until old age." Although you may have been in the Unification Church for decades, you have not rooted out your secular habits. You may say the words, "Sacrifice for the providence; sacrifice," but have you really sacrificed? If given the choice between a comfortable path and a path of trials and tribulations, can you confidently say you would go the path of sacrifice? No. This disposition toward taking the easy way out is the result of secular habits transmitted historically. Even St. Paul exclaimed, "Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Rom. 7:24). This wretchedness is also a result of habits accumulated over a lifetime. St. Paul lamented, "Wretched man that I am!" because he saw within himself two laws at war with each other. His inner being delighted in God's law but his body followed Satan's desires. He thus added, "Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

(20)  Habits formed over a lifetime cannot be eliminated, even though you try until you die. Thus, it is logical to say that habits and fallen nature that have been passed down over millions of years cannot be rooted out with efforts made over a few centuries. This is a serious issue. You speak vaguely about fallen nature, but this fallen nature was not inherited through something being eaten. Fallen nature has been inherited through flesh and bone; it has been passed down through lineage. These habits have been mixed with flesh and blood. Fallen nature has taken root and cannot be removed with human energy.

It has grown into a gigantic tree gathering up all the people of the world.

(21)  We need to be aware of our fallen nature and the bitter sorrow of the Fall. Think about Adam and Eve crying after being chased from Eden. Remember this, and let us cleave earnestly to our Parent, yearning to be one with Him, with the determination to go forward—even if we have to spend tens of thousands of years crossing over the peaks of death. If we are unable to achieve mind-body unity, we will have no relationship with the foundation of God's victory, even as that foundation spreads across the earth.

The path to find my original self

(22)  You cannot rejoice in who you are, since you are not your original self. You must recognize that your situation is sorrowful. Your grief, however, should not be directed toward the world. Even when you feel pain, your pain should bear no relationship to the anguish of the secular world. When you feel sadness and pain, your sadness should come from being unable to find your true self. No matter how great the anguish and suffering of the world, they do not exceed the sadness and pain people experience being unable to find their true selves. Given this situation, for whom has God been searching until now? God has been searching for each of you. This is why you need to uncover and strengthen your true selves. Otherwise, you have no relationship to a true family of true individuals, a true society built upon true families, a true nation of true societies, a true world made up of such true nations, or to the cosmos that bears this ideal world that perfectly centers on the substance of oneness. The first standard for all these levels of goodness is individual perfection.

(23)  By disobeying God's Word, humankind lost God's Word, lost His substance, and lost His love. Can you imagine God's heart as He spoke the Word, His heart as He created human beings to be His substance, and His internal heart anticipating the pride He would feel through that substance? We are the ones who lost God's Word, failed to embody Him, and failed to embody the love that could create the garden envisioned by God. Hence, we must realize that we are all sinners who cannot take pride in ourselves. On the contrary, we are beings who are incapable of establishing initiatives on our own and unable to find any basis to discover the foundation for the Sabbath within our own minds.

(24)  Our mind constantly redirects us along our way. It tells us, "Turn around.  Return to the ancient place. Return to the deepest place in your mind." This is why Buddhism encourages us to meditate. The reality of our life on earth is that through our original mind's guidance we sorrowfully seek our original selves. Once we have purified ourselves and returned to the ancient place, it is excruciating to recall our past, even in dreams. God's goal is to eliminate this kind of sorrow-filled life. We should be living in the new, ideal world, enraptured with renewed hope.

(25)  In the secular world, people seek good food and wear fashionable clothes. In contrast, the basic attitude of a religious seeker should be to eat simple food by choice. This is opposite to the way of the world. When you look at religious seekers, you see that despite eating humble food, wearing shabby clothes, and leading impoverished lives, their way of life and their purpose is to find the original relationship—the love that can embrace them eternally.

(26)  The original place of the Will is where God dwells. Therefore, that original place is sacred. When we transcend all levels of creation and measure our coordinates from all directions, we can determine exactly where we are in relation to the Absolute. However, if we are mistaken in measuring and are not aligned with the original point at 180 degrees, we cannot reach it until we realign and straighten ourselves out. Given the context of our sinful history, this is the inevitable conclusion. We need to realign ourselves with all four directions in order to find the original zero point. And in order to find that zero point, we need to clearly understand the original center. Only when we fully unite with the zero point can we reach that original center. Until we understand this, we cannot recover our position as a second, resultant being, totally united with the Will, through which we can achieve a new beginning. This is logical and no one can object to it.