Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 165
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 4: The True Family Movement
Speech 8: Blessed Families and the Ideal World, pg 581-584
Blessed Families and the Ideal World
April 27, 2002
Sheraton National Hotel, Washington, D.C., USA
Interreligious and International 144,000 Clergy Couples Blessing and Rededication Ceremony
Distinguished guests from home and abroad! First of all, I would like to sincerely congratulate everyone participating in this marriage Blessing ceremony of 144,000 clergy couples from interreligious, interracial and international backgrounds. On this day, the five races became one, transcending religious denominations and doctrines, centering on the ideal of the true family, and it will be recorded in the history of human civilization, in which conflicts and struggles are ever increasing, as the day of the new history in which reconciliation and love triumphed.
Importance of a true family
Through the past eighty years of my life I have devoted myself heart and soul to constructing the one world of peace under the one God, going beyond the religious order I founded. Now, on this meaningful occasion in which my efforts have been brought to fruition, I would like to speak to you, the leaders of different religious orders, under the title “Blessed Families and the Ideal World.” A great number of people are living in this world, and they all belong to their families. However, without true families, true children cannot be raised and the formation of true societies is also impossible. As can be seen, it is an obvious fact that true families are the basis on which true societies, true nations and a true world can be established. These true families refer to the families that have been formed centered on the true love of God.
Until now there never has been a clear definition of a true family. Not only that, the goals that true people need to pursue and their limitations also have been unclear. Human beings are in a state of ignorance in which they do not know where people come from, how they ought to live and where they go after death. Human beings have lived throughout history without defining their purpose, the standard for moral cultivation and the uppermost limit of human maturity that they are to achieve.
Since human beings as individuals have not been able to stand in the position of perfection, there is no way for them to reach the ultimate standard of the family, although they are seeking it.
When seen from this perspective, the fact that numerous people are struggling along the path of their lives is certainly a problem. However, what is more serious, is that we have to remember that we should set the standard of a true family based on the foundation of being true individuals. This ideal still remains as a task to be fulfilled during the course of our life and the developing course of human history.
Then what is the purpose to be pursued by religion, which has been eradicating the spiritual ignorance of humankind? Individual salvation is significant. However, religion has to go one step further and save the family, that is, it needs to focus on restoring the family and liberating all humankind from sinfulness.
Religion must recover the family that can represent, in a true sense, history, the present new age, and the future. Furthermore, it needs to firmly establish the basis for the family in which all human beings can rejoice, and the standard that must be followed by all families. It has to determine where this family system begins and where it is heading. Unless this comes to pass, the world of peace cannot be built on this earth. We need to understand that, no matter how well the external system of the world has been structured, if families are not spiritually healthy, the world can break down in an instant.
The family is the starting point of true peace
In the family there are parents and at the same time there is the conjugal relationship between husband and wife. It would be unfortunate to have no parents or for a husband and wife to separate, yet if you were to lose your beloved spouse, you could not be more sad and miserable. Not only that, it would also be unfortunate if a couple were unable to have children. Even if you were not very successful in a materialistic sense, if you had achieved love in your family, centering on true parents, true husband and true wife and true children, and if you led such a peaceful life that everyone, regardless of who they were, wished to follow in your footsteps, then no one could deny that such a family was a happy one.
To this day, saints and sages all have talked about peace, although they did not really know that the family is the starting point of true peace. This is because they were unaware that God’s ideal of creation is the construction of a peaceful world on the foundation of ideal families. In the course of world history until now, there have been many revolutions. And even if there have been many cases in which revolutions resulted in changing the world, all such changes eventually fell short. The ultimate problem is that the center that can give rise to the revolution to form true families must be manifested on earth.
From there, the beginning of the construction of a new world, that is, a new historical ideal, needs to appear. There is no way for us to deny this fact. This is the messianic ideal passed down from the First Israel, Judaism, to the Second Israel, Christianity. Can a person who does not originate from a righteous family go in the right direction? Even if that person could go there, he or she would be unable to find a stable destination and would have no choice except to turn back. This is why the destiny of our life course is such that we have no choice except to find our way back to our families.
The starting point of saving fallen humanity is the family
The driving force behind human beings’ search for the original homeland has to become the motive that can influence history in its entirety and all environments, and the motive that can also pave the way for happiness. Where would the family, which is the foundation for that driving force of human beings, be formed? Today’s religions must prepare the basis through which they can benefit the family before they can publicly benefit the society. This is because even if a religion has made contributions for the public good, if the basis of the families that make up this society breaks down, the foundation of society also will break down.
In this regard, what would be the starting point for God to save fallen humanity? Would it be a specific nation that boasts of having a certain civilization? No, it wouldn’t. If there is a certain organization in a society that is considered to be ideal, would it serve as the center? No, it would not. Then would that starting point be centered on a certain individual with the qualities of a genius? No, it would not. You have to know that the one starting point that can transcend all these things is the true family. Therefore, the people of today need to become those who can pass through the door of such a family and thus win the qualification to hold high the banner of the victor and head out into the world. Individuals who can present such a philosophy and teaching have to come forward.
Then why have Buddhism and Catholicism continued to emphasize leading a celibate life? Can celibacy truly be the basis for human happiness? No, it cannot. The reason for that is because no religion or philosophy has been able to clarify where the origin of true happiness lies. Therefore, people needed to lead a celibate life in anticipation of the pure and righteous family that would eventually appear.
The serious problems being brought up nowadays within Catholicism signify the need to fundamentally reconsider celibacy, practiced since the thirteenth century. God’s Will is to be fulfilled through a true family formed by a true man and a true woman. Therefore, it is a matter of course for the clergy to take the lead in forming ideal families and thus set an example before others.
FFWPU, USA