Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 124
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 3: The Mission of Religion in Achieving God’s Ideal
Speech 9: The Fundamental Truth, pg 430-433
Reverend Moon is the philosopher of true love
If there are believers in Jesus among you, would you wish to stand in a position quite close to him, like that of his sons and daughters, or would you wish to stand in the position of a next-door neighbor? If you were to ask this question of Jesus, he would answer, “What are you asking? Of course you should wish to be in the closest vertical relationship, which is the parent-child relationship,” not in a horizontal relationship. Why would you want it to be the parent-child relationship? This is because it is a vertical relationship.The husband-wife relationship is a horizontal relationship. Then what comes first, the vertical or the horizontal? If the vertical comes first, why is this so?
When all things in the world were created, the Creator created them vertical while looking at the horizontal. That is why all good things have a perpendicular orientation. Stalks grow perpendicularly. The heads cause them to curve, while the stalks grow erect. Stalks include roots and bud stalks. They are all perpendicular.
If the ancestors of humankind are the second cause, then the First Cause, God, is in the higher position and human beings are in the lower position. Under the circumstances, if you were to talk about the love between God and human beings, such love is only vertical.
At this point, we can formulate a concept. What is it that can create complete perpendicularity between vertical and horizontal? Knowledge is not enough. You cannot go in a straight line with that alone; it makes you go in circles. And money is not something that comes vertically down from heaven, but rather cycles around on the earth. Not even power can be perpendicular. True love, however, passes through the shortest route, which is perpendicular.
You have no idea how delighted I was after I discovered this simple truth. You cannot explain the universe without this principle. What is true love? It is a force that passes through the shortest and most direct route. This is why if there is a true love that comes down from above, it can only be perpendicular. If it were to swerve even a little, however, it would not be perpendicular. Then it would not be following the shortest and most direct route. What could possibly achieve the perpendicular, which involves the shortest route in the universe? It is only true love.
Nowadays, I have become famous worldwide by talking about true love. I have come to be known as the philosopher of true love. When their beloved child is in danger, would the parents try to save the child by going in circles? They would travel by the shortest route to save the child’s life, even at the risk of their own lives. This is in itself a truly great gospel. What is the center of the universe? What is that which can travel the shortest and most direct line to create perpendicularity? Whatever that is, the world needs to place it as the central value and determine locations in relationship to that point. Centering on that perpendicular line, one would determine whether one is to the east, west, south or north.
Perpendicularity has no meaning in and of itself. It is a term that can only be used on the premise of the horizontal. The word “above” is not centered on itself; it first takes below into account. The word “right” implicitly acknowledges the fact that there is a “left.” Similarly, you cannot use the term “woman” if only women exist. The use of these terms without their counterparts would be confusing. The term “man” is the primary, decisive factor that clarifies the use of the word “woman.” These words are used on the basis of their relationship.
The example of the child in danger shows us that if you have to find the most direct, perpendicular line in the universe, you cannot do so with knowledge alone. You cannot find it with power alone. And wealth will not lead you to it. With love, however, it is possible. Since God is the Absolute Being and His love is also absolute, that love is absolute truth and that love creates the shortest route. This is the fundamental truth.
The origin of the universe is love, life and lineage
A person who studies philosophy reads books and ponders the question, “Why was I born?” Women may think to themselves, “I am vexed and mortified from being ill-treated by men. I wish I could have been born as a man so I could take revenge on them. I wish to transmigrate and be reborn to do so.” However, they should not think like that.
Who is the cause for women and men, human beings in general, to be born? Children are born because of their parents. Why do parents exist? They exist because of their children. The term “parents” presupposes the existence of children. Similarly, the word “children” is premised on the word “parents” as a prior condition. Relationships are formed based on such prior conditions. No relationship is formed centering on one’s own self. Men were born because of women. To become a true man, one has to first become a true son. To become a true son, one has to become a filial son. Next, one has to meet a true woman and they have to become a true husband and wife. In a true couple, the wife represents women and the husband represents men. They are the representatives of all men and women in the world. The animal kingdom has males and females, and the world of atoms is made up of positive and negative particles. Everything in the universe exists in pairs. And all males and females multiply and live centered on love.
Buddhist priests may say, “This is a serious problem, since I am not even thinking about forming a relationship with a woman.” When they go to the heavenly world they will see the repercussions. If you were born as a man, why were you created in such a way? Was the convex created for the sake of the convex? That fundamental question arises in the context of my logic. The convex came to be because of the concave. In the same way, was the concave created because of the concave? It came to be because of the convex. This is the principle of heaven and earth. Oriental philosophy talks about all things existing as positive and negative, and that positive and negative need to come together or else they remain incomplete. Then through what can positive and negative be brought together? It is through love. This being the case, what is the reason for which a man was born for a woman? It is for love. The love of a man does not lie with another man but lies with a woman. And the love of a woman lies with a man. One does not possess love by oneself.
The basis of the universe is love, life and lineage. Without them, human beings cannot feel love. God is the Subject Being of love, the Subject Being of life and the Subject Being of lineage. We also have these three, yet we cannot realize them of our own accord. Once our object partner appears before us, however, we feel the resonance of love. Our life writhes within us. Our blood is stirred. Whom do we take after when this happens? It cannot happen without an origin.
In light of this, God is the same. God also has love, life and lineage. What does it mean to become mature? One meaning is to yearn for love from the opposite sex. When this is consummated, the entire world is encompassed in it. Anyone who experiences love for the first time becomes like a poet filled with inspiration and intoxicated by that love. During adolescence, there is not one person who does not become lyrical from love.
If you are a man, you would think, “I represent the male sex,” wouldn’t you? How can you do so? Can you do so by studying, piling up money or amassing power? That will never happen. However, if you, among all men in the world, can stand as a representative who is second to none when it comes to love, all men will shout, “Hooray!” for you. If you have become the representative of love, everyone will cheer for you, regardless of whether they are good people or bad. The same is true for women.
FFWPU, USA