Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 161
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 4: The True Family Movement
Speech 6: Blessed Marriage and Eternal Life, pg 563-568
The reason we have eternal life
For what purpose and in what position did God create humankind? Man and woman were created to be God’s true love partners. We were to have God’s absolute and unique value. This is a startling revelation! How much is the value of each person’s life? In this light, the value of each person’s life is infinite. Even the entire universe cannot replace the value of one person in the eyes of God. All people were to be born in true love, to live and grow in true love, and even to die in true love. They do not simply disappear. God is eternal, unchanging and unique. We stand as the eternal object of God’s true love. Therefore, we are created to live eternally. Our eternal life has its roots in our relationship with God, as His partner of true love.
What kind of person in the world is the person who has become the most true? The one who is the most true is the one who has become one with God and can receive God’s love from the position of His child. The life that this kind of person lives together with God is a true life.
No matter who they are, people want to be the best. When I reach the top position, then God is mine and I am God’s. When this happens, because I become God’s son or daughter and become one with God, then to whom does the universe belong? It belongs to me.
If there is something that God loves the most, is that thing made to be with God for one day, for ten years or a hundred years, or is it made to be with God for all eternity? It is made to be with God for all eternity. It is the same with people. After a person is born, when they die, is it better if they are gone, or better if they live on eternally? People live eternally because they are the object partners that are most precious to the absolute God.
Do you want eternal life or not? Of course you want eternal life. When something is precious to you, would you take it with you if you had to flee somewhere, or would you leave it behind? You would take it with you. You want to speak proudly about it and continue to speak proudly about it for days. You would want to leave it for your descendants when you die. You would want it to remain forever. It is the same with God. If God is an absolute eternal being, then the object partner whom God loves also lives eternally. That’s why people want to live eternally. You need to understand this clearly. This is why God, who is an absolute being, seeks beloved sons and daughters who have the value of eternal life.
Because God created us, we resemble God. Because God is eternal, we also have eternal natures, so our minds never get old. This is why people have eternal life in order to be beings with the value of God’s masterpiece of creation. Human beings are to be the lords of creation. This is where their spirit becomes apparent. They are beings with a spiritual side. When we say that people are the lords of creation, it means they have a spirit. As spiritual beings, they have eternal life.
The eternal love partner of the Creator
Let us discover the truth of eternal life. God is a being of wisdom. If God had not established the concept of love, God would have been very lonely, not feeling joy or anger, happiness or sadness. As a consequence, since God’s love is absolute, its loss through the Fall led Him to experience indescribable misery and almost hopeless sorrow throughout history. No one has ever understood this; no one has been able to fully comfort God.
God was not satisfied with the loss of His son and daughter. God, in the depth of His heart, wants to re-create this long awaited love partner. God wants to embrace human beings as children. God will travel any distance to meet them. Only by meeting these sons and daughters can God express joy to the fullest. In actuality, God created the entire universe for these precious children.
Consider the earth’s atmosphere. When a low-pressure system forms, a high-pressure system appears automatically. God is the King of true wisdom, so He designed us to invest and forget what we have invested. This creates a spontaneous and natural circular motion of giving and receiving in daily life. This constant cycle of giving and receiving leads to eternal life. I want to be clear: as long as one lives for the sake of others, one will never perish. A life of giving will surely grow and progress steadily. The person who lives thus will eventually take a central position as the nucleus of society. When God seeks an absolute love partner, who would merit such a position? It is natural to conclude that God’s love partner would have to be humankind. That is why human beings are held to be the most precious part of God’s creation.
When we are able to accept that we are the eternal true love partners of the Creator, we can easily understand that we live for eternity. The concept of eternity naturally follows from this. It takes place right here. The religious world must bear in mind that the foundation of eternal life is the relationship of true love. In its simplest terms, eternal life stems neither from man nor from woman, it stems from God’s true love.
Only true love provides salvation
Christians proclaim that any individual can possess eternal life just by believing in Jesus. This is a beautiful idea. I ask them how one can secure eternal life, and they answer, “Just believe.” Please consider that the life of the spirit has to be continuous. Considering this, you know you follow this path forever. The functioning of the physical body is continuous. For instance, our circulatory system, nervous system and brain function continuously and smoothly. In order for this to happen, the body consumes a great deal of energy. With this in mind, how would you answer the question of how to secure eternal life? The life of the spirit also has continuity. Are you truly able to claim, “My eternal life is guaranteed through faith alone”? Does salvation come from believing, and nothing else? It absolutely does not. True salvation has to be continuous, from this physical world to the spirit world, and this comes through the practice of true love.
According to the principles by which God created this world, only a true person can become God’s true love partner. Only with true love can one become such a person and obtain eternal life. If you are in the realm of true love, you are able to see where you will be living in the spirit world and on the earth.
Have you ever heard about how the rats on a ship will run down the rope to find safety on land when the ship is sinking? Even small animals like rats know how to save their lives, however, people, who are the leaders of everything, cannot do so. This is because of the Fall of humankind.
The fundamental question is how to free our lives from evil love, evil life and evil lineage. Only in this context does liberation have any meaning. Liberation means becoming free from something, doesn’t it? Only complete liberation from evil brings true freedom, and true freedom is self-sustaining.
The idea necessary for eternal life
We are created to live an eternal life. We are similarly created to practice true love. Furthermore, we are to practice true love here on the earth. When we engage ourselves and love many things in this world, these things become the foundation that ensures our eternal life.
In other words, everything we do in this world is training for eternal life. We need true life and true love forever.
We are fully capable of living forever! We desire an eternal life! In our search for eternal life, what does not change? Only true love does not change! Everything in this universe changes. Everything in the environment changes, yet true love does not change. True love does not change because it is the central core of all life. Why is it that true love does not change?
It is because true love is the center. The center will remain intact, even if everything that surrounds it disappears. True love is the center of the universe; it is one with God’s love. Consequently, as long as God is unchanging, true love is unchanging.
What does true love mean? A husband desires that his wife be better than he is. A wife also wants her husband to surpass her, and parents want their children to surpass them. Why do we share this feeling in common? It is because we are all created in the very image of God. In other words, even God wants His love partners to be better than Him, in the same sense that parents want their children to surpass them. Can you deny this?
God is absolute, and at the same time God is our Parent.
Can parents impose an absolute standard upon their children that they do not take upon themselves as well? No, even our Parent God cannot. In light of this, our value is the highest in the universe. When true love is at the center, we are more valuable even than God.
An eternal life connected to God’s true love
In fact, in the realm of true love, we can have a value even higher than that of God. This is why our minds entertain the highest of aspirations, and we truly can feel that nothing is impossible because all people are equal. Indeed, everything would be possible if we were not fallen.
God originally intended that God’s children rule this universe from the position of highest value. We were not to have been sidetracked or manipulated in any way. To confirm this, simply look into your mind. The mind desires complete freedom. No one wants his or her mind to be controlled.
This is true of all people. Once we secure the position of true love, we are totally free. We can travel anywhere. We can travel to God’s throne and become God’s friend.
Since God created us as partners of true love, it is natural to conclude that we can enjoy eternal life. Clearly, in order for a man or woman to live an eternal life, he or she needs to dwell in the realm of true love. Only through true love is abundant eternal life possible.
Why? The origin, motive and process of God’s creation centers on true love. No result can come without a process, and the process to completion is based upon the practice of true love. The completion of mind and body is possible only when they both belong to the realm of true love.
The limitless origin, the process of creation based on this cause and its ideal, all originate from true love. This is because God exists for eternity upon The foundation of true love. God’s own eternal life is centered on true love.
Therefore, we also live with true love as our center. In this way, we create the realm of eternal life. In order to find this realm, we need to practice true love in daily life.
Even if we are not sure where in the spirit world God dwells, at least we need to understand clearly that God is the center of true love. The power of true love is the fastest and the most direct power. True love travels in a straight line. Why do you think I emphasize true love so fervently? It is because of my direct experience of this truth. Once you experience God and the eternal world, you too will never be able to have an indifferent attitude toward life.
FFWPU, USA