God’s Will and the Ocean: Episode 60

God’s Will and the Ocean
True Father Speaks on: Why We Go Tuna Fishing, page 193-197
August 31, 1983, Gloucester

Tuna Fishing is Training

For some people, one tuna is more than one month's entire pay. You have to think more seriously about this. If you had $5,000 in cash in your pocket and you let it drop down into the water, how deeply would you regret it? You should think about this. It is even more serious with the tuna, because you not only lose money, but the tuna probably loses its life. We are more serious than anyone else. Such seriousness is absolutely important. If we lack a serious and respectful attitude the tuna will be able to get away. Catching tuna requires the highest techniques used in all of fishing. Of course, you may not have known all these things, because you started out with little knowledge of any kind of fishing, but now that I have explained these things, you have to think about them. These techniques will be with you wherever you go, either in the fishing or ocean industry or some other kind of work. This is because you are learning to apply an attitude of the mind.

Whatever you do in the future, whatever problem you might have, you can solve it because you can connect it to the lessons you learned here. You can apply this to any other kind of fishing in the entire industry. Do you understand? It's a little bit abstract, but it means that you are learning a type of thinking which can be applied in any other area of fishing activity. Actually, it can be applied to any kind of activity.

As you may have already experienced, this kind of fishing demands very quick and instantaneous decisions. It doesn't leave you even a few minutes to think about it. Sometimes you have to make a decision in that very second; a man's life may depend on you. Certainly, success or failure depends on your decision in that very moment. A wrong move and something very dangerous can happen. We always have to think in a serious and not a frivolous way. This brings us to reflect about the danger of our lives as we look to the future. At any time, something, some emergency can occur. You have to think about your life in this way. It really is serious from moment to moment.

Also, you have learned a great lesson about unity. When all the people on the boat are united and all the boats are working in harmony, no one gets hurt and the tuna does not escape from the hook-up. The tuna strikes, the tuna is pulling and you are pulling too. At that time, you are thinking about ten things or more. When you are pulling, you have to think quickly ahead, "next is this and next is that."

Everything is going on in your mind at once. You have to know exactly what you are going to do next. For example, Jin Sung got a hook-up. He began to pull and that was all that was on his mind. The tuna came up to the surface, but no one else knew what to do, they were just standing around and all the lines were everywhere. If you were in his position you would have to decide what to do.

Keep everything in consideration and concentrate on what you do. Always know why you are doing whatever you do and always think about the next thing that you must do. These things all have to go on at the same time. I thought for a long time and very seriously about these techniques and I want you to learn them. It is important. Never waste a moment or you might lose the opportunity. That's what I want to teach you.

Investing in Youth and the Future

Why are we fishing for tuna? There are so many other kinds of fish, flounder, salmon and so forth, that are good to catch. Someday we will catch all of these fish. However, I am thinking first of how to catch the imagination of young people. Once a young person catches at least three tuna, he is hooked for the rest of his life. Every summer comes and this same person wants to come again. They are thinking, "It's so hot and humid on the land, but out on the ocean it is so calm, so beautiful and sometimes adventurous." The young person cannot help but be drawn to that.

Moonies are basically the same as anyone else in the world. Maybe getting a little bit better, but basically the same. Anyway, we need incentive in life from time to time. Don't you think so? With tuna, we have so far been losing money, but I am never worried about that. I will never let go of the line, never let go of my belief in this. I know it is the best species to establish this tradition. Nothing changes a man quickly, not overnight or in one year. I know that it takes at least ten years for an individual, an average American young person, to take his mind and really apply it. This is especially true about the ocean. To really love it takes one, two or three years to begin. After a long time you become involved to the point where you can say, "yes, this is my future."

Once you understand how to catch tuna, the excitement cannot be contained. When someone who knows this starts to talk about catching tuna, he cannot talk calmly, but has to get excited. He has to recreate the very moment when the tuna struck the line and go through every detail of the fight. You are laughing because you already know about this point. This is such a positive influence upon people who have never caught tuna. Sometimes you are pulling so hard on the line when suddenly the tuna gets to the anchor line and cuts off. You fall back on the boat and crash against it. These are truly experiences that make life fulfilling. Even though we lose so much money, we are not worried.

We are not fishing for one or two years. We are looking into the future, even far beyond ten years when this starts to spread and is shared by more and more people. Then, the whole tide of American youth will begin to turn towards the ocean. I am sure of that. In order to insure that, we have to spend at least ten years laying the foundation. If we do that, they can easily come to our movement and benefit from their experiences with us. Even in our own movement we have to learn. I first began to fish, and after six, seven years of fishing myself, I initiated Ocean Church. In the beginning the leaders of Ocean Church were hardly able to understand anything, but now there is a point where some of the leaders understand and they have some maturity. Don't you feel that? So now is the time when we can begin to invest more money and practical effort.

I am always ahead of you. When you weren't even thinking of what to do for the future, I was out there learning how to fish for tuna. Now you are fishing for tuna and I am already in Alaska.

Alaska is something else. There, you can literally work through the night, because there is no night. And all that time, you are catching fish. In Alaska, you can catch halibut. They weigh up to 150 pounds and more. However, they are as big as the tuna because the halibut is flat. The tuna takes the line and just pulls straight ahead, but halibut pull with jerks. If you really like fishing, once you get to Alaska, you will say, "forget about Provincetown, forget about Gloucester."

There's so much there. For example, when you see the school of cod fish, you can see all the colors of the ocean. They move like a huge island of solid fish. If you had a big enough net, how many millions of pounds that would be! You have to find a way to catch them and send them all over the world. From there you could make a new tradition for the American fishing industry. Do you understand a little more clearly why we go tuna fishing? It is the best fish to start with. Once you thoroughly learn the tuna techniques, you can go on to any other kind of fishing with confidence. If you can fish with confidence, you can revive the entire fishing industry and in so doing, revive America. This is my hope for you.