God’s Will and the Ocean: Episode 10

God’s Will and the Ocean
True Father Speaks on: The Founding of Ocean Church, page 24-26
October 1, 1980, Morning Garden

If we carefully examine what we say in the Pledge we can see everything from the correct perspective. Whenever I give a sermon, I see all these things in their proper order. I always have these things in mind. Do you think of these things? I conclude every sermon with, "Amen." When we conclude the Pledge we say, "To accomplish all this, all five sections, we will give our very life." With such a conclusion you are saying that you cherish this Pledge more than anything else, so you will fight even with your life to overcome the forces of evil and bring about the promises of the Pledge. You are saying that you don't want to die without making the one world of the heart. Without doing this, if we go to the spiritual world, we have to do everything all over again once we arrive there. I have wondered why no one has ever asked any questions about the Pledge. No one has ever asked why there was such a specific sequence in the Pledge and what it means. No one has ever asked me why I wrote the Pledge in this way.

The way we bow and what we say in Pledge all comes into one meaning. Whatever we do, we have to do with the feeling that we are practicing how to do it in the Kingdom of Heaven. That time when we give pledge, the beginning of a brand new day, without any contamination or interference, is the moment when we make a deep intimate relationship with Heaven. Here we contemplate where we are and what we are trying to accomplish for the sake of mankind and Heaven. We should have those moments and those few hours and realize how meaningful they are. If we don't feel that and just waste the time, it is truly a pity.

When we eat fresh fruit, we should think, "I shall appreciate it as if I were in the Kingdom of Heaven." We should eat the things of creation with this kind of deep heart. We should consider every act as practice for living in the Ideal World. Bowing is like that as well. You should do it naturally, with sincerity and no one should need to prompt you. You should know when it is appropriate for you to bow.

I am telling you all these things because I am thinking about how our meeting started this morning. The moment that Mr. Kim shouted out, "Bow!" I wondered, "Why does he have to shout it out? Why doesn't everyone just naturally feel like doing that?" I feel unnatural from that kind of thing and I feel that it is strange for you too. However, once you know the meaning and have the full explanation of how and why, it's all up to you. You can express your feelings from deep within, in this significant way.

The Relationship between East and West

The Western way of greeting each other is horizontal. It is a friendly shaking of the hands, a lateral movement. It is saying, "You and I are equal, so let's get along together." But, the Oriental way has vertical relationships in mind. The vertical relationship is the first thing to come. You have to greet your superior first, and then care about your junior member. Both are necessary, but which comes first? The vertical relationship must be first established and then we can create a horizontal relationship.

In Western culture, there is even some pride to do away with all vertical relationships, but in reality this slows down real progress in relationships. Does this sound logical and reasonable to you? The way for human relationships to function smoothly is for the vertical to come first and the horizontal to come based upon the first. This shows the difference between Eastern and Western civilizations. Western people are really looking for something new and they are looking to the East for new ideas. The East is not looking to the West for new ideas, but they are interested in finding out new ways of doing things. That is why they want to find out about technology and the more external customs of the West. In the Orient, people are tired of the old formal customs and narrow religious way of thinking. They are saying, "What do we get doing all of this?" They are interested in learning more practical ways of doing things. So, they come to America and study how to make things and build things and get things moving. This is actually very good. From the East can come a deeper way of thinking and from the West can come a good way of getting things done.

To you, such things may just be happening, but nothing "just happens." Once you know how the providence moves, you can see the reason behind everything. So, let's face it. Among Western men and Western women, the Western men don't prefer Western women, if they can help it. Men don't want to obey women and serve women, not if they can help it. If they don't have to do it, they don't want to do it. Something inside of them tells them, "I want to get away from here; this is meaningless." 

The Oriental woman may not be so active. Their calm and serene nature seems to say a lot without any words. Once the Western man sees this, he is drawn to it. The Western woman is very talkative, whereas the Eastern woman doesn't speak so much. That's the general tendency, isn't it? However, the Oriental men sometimes think, "Our women don't express anything. What are they here for?” The Oriental woman just seems to sit there and do nothing. So, the Oriental man thinks, "If I marry an American woman, life will be very exciting."

In the depth of her heart, even American women want someone to dominate them in the right way. Someone like me. I am not always a gentle person. I can be very tough, very demanding. I can push and push and never give you an inch. Sometimes you like that. Sometimes you say, "I wish I had a man that consistent." Contrary to the popular belief that women like only soft people just like themselves, the chances are that they really like someone who is strong. The idea that men only like people who are masculine like themselves is not at all accurate either. It is not so much that one is better than the other; that is not what I am saying now. It is that men and women are made for each other by being different from each other. It is like boy and girl twins, not exactly alike, but from the same parent. And not that different once you get to know them from the inside. If you draw the line and split something in half, you have two things that are identical. Well, in somewhat the same way, men and women are the same thing, but they are also different too, in order that they can experience becoming one. That's the beauty of it. Do you understand?