Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 337
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 8: The Reunification of Korea and World Peace
Speech 13: World Unity and the Reunification of South and North Korea Will Be Accomplished by True Love, pg 1251-1255
Ladies and gentlemen, at this moment, North and South are going in different directions. One is trying to go south and the other trying to go north, and their paths collide. Their purposes are at odds with each other. If both sides insist on their own position, it is certain that the situation will again result in hostilities.
What can be done about this? There must be South Koreans who love North Korea with a love greater than any South Korean has for South Korea. Also, there must be North Koreans who love South Korea with a greater love than any North Korean has for North Korea. There is no alternative, no solution other than this.
If there is even one person whose patriotic love for a reunified peninsula is greater than that of any South Korean for South Korea and greater than that of any North Korean for North Korea, it is through him or her that the path to reunification can begin. Can there be another way? No matter how hard you may think about it, you will find no other way.
What should the Korean people do? Our land straddles the boundary line between left wing and right wing centering on the thirty-eighth parallel. We are the ones who have been placed on that line, so what are we to do? This is the question. The issue is how to resolve this problem. The answer is that we must make greater efforts than either North Koreans or South Koreans. How are we to uphold such a standard of patriotism, established through suffering and transcending nationality? This is the only way for us to give this land life and solve its problems.
The same principle applies to overcoming the world of evil and uniting the world of goodness. Someone must appear in the world of goodness that is a greater patriot for the world of evil than anyone in that world. A person has to appear and set a higher standard of loyalty to his or her nation than anyone before has done. This is the only way to resolve the divisions of history.
Jesus was particularly remarkable in this regard. He realized it would do no good for the two sides to fight. The best thing he could do for the sake of God and for the sake of the people of Israel was to die for God and for his people. This was his reasoning behind his decision to go the way of the cross. Jesus’ love for humanity was greater than anyone else’s since the beginning of history, and his love for God was greater than that of anyone else in history. Because of this, his death caused a history destined for destruction to take a new direction toward a world of purpose. That direction resulted in the Christian cultural sphere of today. This is historical fact.
Where and how will North-South reunification come about?
Thus, the only way to unite North and South is to become a people who can die for both the North and the South, with the heart of truly wanting to live together in harmony with the other side. There is no other path to achieve unity.
When a person considers how to lead his life, the fundamentals can be expressed as: the path of a filial child, the path of a loyal patriot, the path of a saint, and the path of a son or daughter of God. Each of these stages expresses the heart of wanting to live in harmony with others eternally. Logically, the summit of this path is to want to be with others regardless of whether they are higher or lower, front or back, left or right.
What is the common denominator among those who say, “I want to live in harmony with others?” It is not power. Power cannot transcend history. Whatever power one has is for a limited period of time. The same is true of knowledge. The world of knowledge is always changing. Does knowledge give us the desire to say, “I want to live with this particular piece of knowledge forever”? Clearly, we cannot keep either knowledge or wealth with us forever. What, then, is the common denominator that transcends above and below, front and back, left and right, and the changes of history across past, present and future? It is nothing else than true love centering on God.
A filial child lives in his family and gives profound love to his or her parents. Also, a patriot lives with profound love for his or her country. A saint lives with profound love for the people of the world. A son or daughter of God lives a life of profound love for all human beings and God. All of us are challenged to develop such a true foundation in our hearts. We have to want to have the heart of a patriot. We have to want our life to be in concert with the fortunes of our people. If we do, we will look upon difficulties faced by our people as our own difficulties. We will look upon the joy experienced by our people as not just temporary joy, but as eternal joy to be shared with everyone. Once we possess such a true heart and form relationships of true love, we will receive Heaven’s authority to participate in the realm of unification.
Ladies and gentlemen, if a woman who lacks formal education marries a man with a doctoral degree, she suddenly becomes the wife of a scholar. Isn’t that true? This is what I mean when I say that anyone who possesses the breadth of relationships of heart and the desire to live with others in harmony has the right to participate in the realm of unification. God himself is such a being. So if the content of a person’s life enables him or her to unite with others, this person automatically has the right to participate in their lives.
Where do we begin the process of unification? Where do we start in order to achieve North-South reunification? What is the first step? Do we begin by using our fists, physical force? If we subjugate the other side through force, then eventually they will develop a force stronger than ours and the conflict will begin all over again. We cannot achieve unity by this method. The way to unification will open when each of us has the heart to say, “Even though I live in the South, I truly want to live in harmony with the people of the North. I truly want to become one with them.”
If we who live in the South look upon our compatriots in the North and shed tears to see the miserable conditions in which they live; if we say to them, “I am living my life in such a way that I can share in your difficulties”; if we promise them, “Someday soon, I will appear before you having completed the preparations for your day of liberation”; and if we carry out a practical movement for unity based on such a heart, then I believe the day of unification is not far off.
Ladies and gentlemen, we must consider how we can live in harmony with our compatriots in the North. No one can be a patriot if they do not want to live with their parents and with their compatriots. For such a person to claim to be a patriot would be a lie.
We must first be able to live in harmony with our own country before we can live in harmony with the world. We must first live in harmony with the world before we can live in harmony with God. That means we cannot be patriots unless we first love our compatriots in the North and give love to the society in that region of the peninsula.
Any politician who lacks the heart to truly want to share in the life of ordinary citizens will soon disappear. It doesn’t matter how well-bred or educated he or she may be; he or she will disappear like an air bubble floating on the water’s surface. A leader who does not love the citizens will not be able to escape judgment by the citizens of his or her country and by history.
Healing the division between North and South is not a simple process. As fellow patriots struggle to bring this about, we will need the determination to work through many sleepless nights, transcending time and overcoming all manner of difficulties.
“I truly want to live with them. I don’t want to die unless I can die with them. I don’t want to live unless I can live with them.” The movement for North-South reunification begins when both sides have such a heart toward the other.
When North-South reunification is accomplished, it will be the beginning point in the effort to unite the democratic and communist worlds. Each of us must consider the future of our people and of the world. Each of us is a representative of the world, a representative of its six billion people, and a representative of the three billion people of Asia. It is the same as the heart of a teacher who considers him or herself to be a representative of their school and a representative of all the students they have ever taught. We must determine ourselves to carry out a movement to share in the lives of our compatriots in the North.
When such an effort connects you to the way of the saint, then you will come to resemble a saint. If you practice this with respect to God with the loyalty of a son or daughter of God, then you will become God’s heir and a successor to those who carried out God’s Will in the past. I tell you these things today, because I have already confirmed their truth in my own life. Once North-South reunification is accomplished in Korea, the unity of the world will follow naturally. Do you think that political power, military force, or economic wealth can bring about unification? There isn’t even the slightest chance of this.
This is why I am speaking to you in this way. Can weapons, wealth, or knowledge free us from decayed philosophies? No, they cannot. Only true love can do this. This love comes from God. When you enter into a relationship of true love with God, you will be given absolute authority to have dominion, ownership, and the right of inheritance.
FFWPU, USA