Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 141
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 3: The Mission of Religion in Achieving God’s Ideal
Speech 16: The Path of Life for All Humankind, pg 492-496
The Path of Life for All Humankind
January 17, 1999 Olympic Weightlifting Gymnasium, Seoul, Korea
Global Expansion of True Families speaking tour
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
I am deeply grateful that you have taken the time from your busy schedules to help me make today’s gathering such a success. Our theme for today is, “The Path of Life for All Humankind.”
Today the world is lost in great confusion, and cries out in agony. We face endless conflict as individuals, in our families, in our nations, and in the world. As individuals, we are confronted with inner turmoil between our mind and body. Families are affected by the moral decadence of young people and the breakdown of family-centered traditions. Historical rivalries lead to distrust and even war among our nations, fanning the embers of uncertainty and hopelessness in the world. The solution to all these problems lies in developing an ideal love relationship with God.
God’s purpose for creating humankind
Throughout history, humankind has sought to answer the basic question: Why are we born? Some have concluded that they were born for the sake of their country. Others have decided that they were born for the sake of their parents. Still others believe they were born for their own sake. People of faith believe they are born for the sake of God.
Yet it is not enough to say that God created the universe for the sole benefit of human beings or even for God’s own benefit. The creation of humankind involved the cooperation of many beings and elements. Although each had its own inherent purpose, they worked together to initiate the creative process. God’s purpose in creating, the angels’ purpose in assisting, nature’s purpose in providing the materials, and even the human purpose for being created are all consistent. There is some common purpose that is pleasing to God, to the angels, to the rest of creation and to human beings themselves.
This shared purpose is something that, the longer it is possessed the greater the happiness and joy it provides. It is something that, once we possess it, we would never let it go. It cannot be external in nature. It is something internal and invisible. Things like knowledge, money and power are merely collateral conditions that are needed in people’s lives. We are not born into the world for the purpose of possessing them. Such external things may exist in a reciprocal relationship with humankind only temporarily, not eternally.
God has no need for money. If Almighty God ever needed money, He could create as much as He desired. Also, we know that God is the root of all knowledge, since He created the universe through certain principles and laws. Furthermore, the Creator is the origin of power, so God has no need to seek power.
What then is this common content or purpose? It is something we cannot arrive at through human effort alone. This is because human effort cannot control the fundamental origin of life. This content is something that directs the motivation, course and even final destination of each person’s life.
From this perspective, this common content can only be true love. Human beings are born in love and are destined to go the path of love. People even die for love. This shows that love is more valuable than life itself. Moreover, we see that love precedes life. That is why people willingly offer even their lives for the sake of love.
Love is eternal. If we look at novels, poems and other works of literature, we see how authors set unchanging and eternal love as the ideal. Clearly, human beings are not satisfied with momentary or finite love. Our desire is for love that is eternal.
Love has the power to disarm God completely. Even God is vulnerable to love. Almighty God cannot resist breaking into a big smile when smelling the fragrance of love from human beings. God enjoys love stories, too. Yet how much more pleasing it is when love is actually practiced!
Each organ in our body was created for the sake of love. For example, the eyes were obviously created for the purpose of sight. To see what? The eyes were created specifically to look for love, which is the common theme among all beings. The nose was made to smell, specifically to smell the fragrance of love. Similarly, our ears were created to hear the sounds of love. Among all the sounds we hear, the one sound that we never get tired of hearing is the sound of someone saying, “I love you.” This is as true for senior citizens as it is for young people.
Love is the only power that can bring all beings into a state of mutual attraction. Here, love refers to true love, which every being in the entire universe welcomes. True love is the type of love that is publicly endorsed by God, the angelic world, things of creation and all people. If we were to cover the entire universe with a blanket of love, no being would want to crawl out from under that blanket. From this perspective, it is clear that the creation of the universe and life itself originated from true love.
True love is the origin of the creation of the universe
When human beings reach the state of consciousness in which they are able to love the universe, all the doors of the universe open to them. For example, I am just a tiny being occupying this space right here. However, centered on love, I can have a reciprocal relationship with a being of any size or magnitude. Let us say that God is an extremely large being. Then by the power of love, I can rise to a position reciprocal to that of the Absolute God. This is possible because love is an attribute of God.
Thus, a person who recognizes and keeps God’s covenant of love can enjoy freedom anywhere in the universe. A person who is intoxicated with God’s love can examine a single grain of sand for a thousand years without ever being bored. Such a person will see light radiating from his or her own hand. When lying alone at night, a person feels as if he or she is lying on a golden bed and radiating golden light. This may sound unbelievable, yet it is true. If you reach this state, you can stand on a hilltop and feel that all creation is cheering to welcome you. Have you ever experienced this? The thought that we are born into a universe of love not only gives us a feeling of infinite happiness, it also makes us want to proclaim to the world, “Hey, look at me!” God was working in the laboratory, and made the most ideal, most sensational discovery: that discovery is each one of us.
We are created in a position reciprocal to God’s love. Therefore, any act of self-destruction is the greatest of sins. Conversely, loving and protecting oneself are acts of great goodness. That is why suicide, the act of self-destruction, is such a momentous violation of heart. Suicide contributes to breakdown of the universe.
A person might be imprisoned and tortured to the point of vomiting blood. In that moment, if he or she feels God’s love, that suffering becomes a key that opens the door to God’s embrace with a love that penetrates to the marrow of his or her bones. A person who perceives his or her suffering in such a way is even able to face death with happiness.
By this example, we see that anyone who lives within the power of true love is a person of great strength. Even if someone were to offer this person a country or the world, he or she would not be swayed. Even Satan would be forced to surrender before such a person. Such an individual, called by God to represent all humankind centering on this cosmic love, would be the Messiah. Jesus is that representative. We can never find this cosmic love without going through the Messiah. It is reasonable to say that all people on earth will have to follow the Messiah. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) The meaning of this would be clearer if the word “love” were added: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, and the love; no one comes to the Father, but by me.”
The Divine Principle of the Unification Church teaches that energy is produced when a subject partner and object partner become one. In a family, parents hold the position of the subject partner and children hold the position of object partner. Once they have a reciprocal relationship of love they become one entity, a true family. This entity then becomes a new object partner that can unite with a larger subject partner. With God as the subject partner, the parent-child union becomes one with God. We can also say that when a perfect subject-object partnership is formed with God, centering on the ideal of love, God and humankind can exist in total oneness. When the realm of love between God and humanity becomes a reality, the light of love will shine throughout the universe as bright and constant as the sun.
In this way, each of us is a person in whom the lives of both parents are brought together as one, and is also a partner in our parents’ love. We are one with their love and one with their ideals, including happiness and peace. For a parent, the joy of worldly success is nothing compared to the joy of reuniting with a lost child. This shows that the child embodies the highest ideals of the parents.
Each of us is connected to our parents’ life, love and ideals, and no one can sever these connections. Even God cannot sever them, nor can the universe. In fact, all the forces of the universe work together to safeguard these connections. This is because the parents are the cause and the children are the result. The parents and children are one, centering on love. Cause and effect become one and form the substantial realm of love. This is a principle of the universe.
For this reason, wherever the child goes the mother and father will follow. Even in the spirit world, your parents will always want to be with you. In the original ideal, therefore, it is unnatural for a person to dislike being accompanied by his or her parents. Such behavior tears the universe apart. When a person doesn’t like to go with his or her parents, it means that he or she is already moving away from the Principle and toward the Fall.
Thus, acts of filial piety, such as loving and caring for our parents as we would ourselves, are the most precious things. That is why there is a saying, “Good fortune comes to a harmonious family.” On the other hand, divorce cuts through family harmony like a knife. The law of the universe does not allow such an act. Parents who disobey this law find themselves longing for the good fortune of having a harmonious family.
FFWPU, USA