Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 134
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 3: The Mission of Religion in Achieving God’s Ideal
Speech 14: Religion and the Ideal World, pg 468-470
Religion and the Ideal World
August 21, 1995 Hilton Hotel, Seoul, Korea
Third International Congress of the Interreligious Federation for World Peace
Respected heads of different religious denominations from around the world, distinguished guests from home and abroad, and religious scholars and leaders:
My wife Hak Ja Han and I welcome you all with a warm heart, and we hope that your stay here in Seoul will be worthwhile.
The central theme of all religions is the ideal world
This third International Congress of the Interreligious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) addresses the responsibility of the world’s religions in realizing the ideal. This topic, the ideal world, is at the very heart of each of the world’s religious traditions. Although each religion recognizes the reality of evil, all religions teach of an alternative to the world of evil and ignorance. This alternative world is the ideal world.
The pursuit of the ideal is not unique to religion, for all people, religious or not, aspire to the ideal. However, determined efforts and good intentions that are out of step with Heaven’s way will bear no fruit and will cause more harm than good. Therefore, to achieve the ideal we need to clearly understand about God, and we have to know about God’s ideal of creation and God’s Will.
During this century, due to the disaster spawned by atheistic communism, we have clearly observed the tragic results of the pursuit of false ideals. Communism is a failed social movement that denies God and tries to create an ideal human society without God. Democratic society is better than communism, although it will also continue to degenerate and ultimately destroy itself if it ignores the providence of God. The way of goodness and the way of God are one. Human goodness and ideals can neither be achieved nor sustained without a direct connection to the divine reality. For this reason, we can say that anyone who seeks the ideal must understand God’s Will and the importance of religion.
Since my childhood I have tried desperately to discover answers to the fundamental questions of life and the universe. I was certain that God would never create a world in which the ideal could not be realized, and where evil, suffering and disharmony would always prevail. I could not understand why the world I experienced was so full of evil. I do not have time to speak in detail about the experiences of my youth.
It suffices it to say that my youth was filled with a longing for the truth. It was not easy for me to acquire the teaching known as the Principle, which I have revealed. The essence of the Principle was received through deep, fervent and prayerful communion with God and the saints in the spirit world. It is a victory that was gained through a desperate fight with Satan. I devote every moment of my life to the teaching and practice of this Principle. The Principle is being disseminated throughout the world and is transforming people’s lives by bringing them into a new relationship with the living God.
God’s ideal and the family of true love
As human beings created by God, we were born with the hope of attaining the ideal world. When we say “ideal world,” we need to know that the concept of the ideal originates from God. God did not create the world for the sake of power, glory or wealth. God has no desire for these. However, it would be wrong to say that God has no desires at all. God exists as the embodiment of true love.
God’s motivation for creation is true love, and God desires a true person as His object partner. Even God has to have a relationship in order to experience love. True love can be experienced only through a relationship between a subject partner and an object partner. No isolated being can experience love. Only beings capable of freely giving and receiving are able to engage in loving relationships. God created human beings to become the perfect object partners of love, beings who would freely give and receive love in relationship with God.
Human beings are God’s sons and daughters, created with a natural inclination toward true love. God is the True Parent of humankind. God created us as beings that could participate in and inherit true love. In addition, God created the natural world as a protective environment for humankind. Through the relationship of true love, both God and human beings can experience the highest form of joy.
God wanted Adam and Eve to grow in purity centered on true love and become true people. God carefully provided the environment for their biological development and their nourishment. God’s central concern, however, was with their internal character. Human beings realize the ideal by coming to reflect God’s true love. God created the power of love to be the most powerful of all internal forces. When on the heavenly path human beings experience the power of God’s love, they come to resemble God, becoming one with God and perfecting themselves. For this reason, we may say God’s love is the essence of human happiness, life and ideals.
Adam and Eve were supposed to grow in God’s love to become true human beings, then true husband and wife, and true parents. Men and women become true parents when they become beings of perfected character, inheriting God’s unselfish, unconditional parental love.
People experience God’s true love in stages through life’s periods of growth. Through their life course, each individual is meant to come to know the love of children, the love of brothers and sisters, the love of husband and wife, and the love of parents. The foundation upon which these four realms of love and heart can stand is the family. The family is the basis for human love, happiness, life and lineage. Thus, the family of true love is the hope of humankind and the essence of God’s purpose of creation. The true completion of the individual, family, society or environment has its root in the realization of true love within a family. People who have become the embodiment of God’s true love cannot disobey God’s Will, violate other people, or abuse the creation.
FFWPU, USA