Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 417
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 10: True Parents, the Hope of God and Humankind
Speech 12: The True Owners in Establishing the Kingdom of Cosmic Peace and Unity in Heaven and on Earth, pg 1561-1565
The existence of the spirit world
Ladies and gentlemen, each person has a mind and body, and a spirit self that is more elevated than the mind. God resides in the world in which we live with our physical bodies, and also in the spirit world where our spirits are destined to live. Therefore, only when we have become completely one with God in true love are we complete. Such a perfected person, even if physically small, would represent all of history and all potential future relationships, and so could be said to possess infinite value. Once we are aware of this cosmic value, we realize that we must let our minds take the lead in our lives. To aid this, God created your conscience to know and perceive every action you take and every thought you entertain. Your conscience is aware of these things before your teachers, parents and even God are. Hence, if you were to live in absolute obedience to the commands of your conscience, which is your teacher for eternity, you would be absolutely guaranteed to have eternal life. Such is the way of God’s creation.
When viewing the structure of a human being from a different angle, we can recognize that God created us as beings with dual characteristics. He created our physical bodies as miniatures of the corporeal, tangible world and our spiritual bodies as representatives of and lords of the incorporeal world. Accordingly, a human being is intended to live for a hundred years or so in the corporeal, physical world and, once the physical body ceases functioning, to pass on naturally and automatically into the incorporeal, spirit world. In this way, though it cannot be perceived physically, the spirit world is the automatic and inevitable extension of our lives on earth, humankind’s eternal, original homeland, created by God.
The spirit world actually does exist. It is not a world that someone fantasized or imagined into existence. We do not have the right of choice concerning it. It is not a world we can go to if we please or refuse to go to if we would rather not. Just as God is eternal and unchanging, the spirit world He created is also eternal and unchanging. Just as we live in the physical world in our physical bodies and form all sorts of relationships with the existing world, even in the spirit world we are destined to go on living in our spiritual bodies, forming and maintaining close relationships with all phenomena of the spirit world.
In the relationship between the spirit and the physical body of a human being, the spirit is the more important of the two. The physical body lasts for about a hundred years before it stops functioning. However, the spirit lasts eternally, transcending time and space. Isn’t even a person who dresses and fares extremely well in the physical world bound to die? Therefore, before you pass on to the next world, you need to achieve unity between your physical and spiritual bodies by living your earthly life in such a way that you meet the standards of both the physical and spirit worlds.
In other words, you have the responsibility to mature your spirit within your physical body based on the finite life you live in the tangible, physical world. This does not mean, however, that the maturing of a spirit self happens automatically. Your spirit-self fully matures only on the basis of complete unity between your mind and body during your earthly life, which you achieve by expressing true love through actions.
Ladies and gentlemen, in order for fruit to ripen and be put into storage in autumn, it needs first to pass through the growing process of spring and summer and be provided with the nutrients supplied by nature and the tender, loving care of its owner. Fruit grown in an orchard by a lazy or ignorant owner will be afflicted with diseases and vulnerable to foul weather. Eventually it will fall from the tree before it is ripe, or be worm-infested.
Though it is still fruit, it is different from other fruit since it will never be good enough to sell in the market. Fruit that has fully matured on the tree, however, will naturally go into the owner’s storehouse.
Similarly, only when the spirit of a person has reached its full maturation during his or her life in the physical world, which can be likened to the tree, can it automatically enter the kingdom of heaven in the incorporeal spirit world. In other words, a person will enter the kingdom of God in heaven automatically only when he or she has qualified for and enjoyed the kingdom of heaven on earth by reaching the heavenly standard of maturity while living in the physical body.
During your life on earth your every action and movement, without exception, is recorded on your spirit self and measured against the public laws of Heaven. Accordingly, when your spirit self enters the spirit world, which has recorded your life on earth with one hundred percent accuracy, your spirit will show plainly whether you have led a ripe life of goodness, or a wormy, rotten life of sinfulness. What this means is that God will not judge you; you will be your own judge.
If we were all aware of this astonishing rule from Heaven, would any of us spend the days of our lives on earth in selfishness and immorality, succumbing to temptations of Satan and pursuing nothing other than pleasure? No! Rather, we would abstain from injuring and scarring our spirit bodies, even at the risk of our earthly lives. Please bear this truth in mind: You determine whether you are bound for heaven or for hell by your thoughts, speech and behavior in each moment.
This does not imply, though, that the spirit-self leads a life of its own, or that it can act by itself to express true love. Your spirit self grows, matures, and is finally perfected only within your physical body, through a life of having actualized true love on earth, which brings your mind and body into a smooth relationship of giving and receiving. And yet, your outer self and inner self are in a constant relationship of conflict and struggle. How much longer will you allow this fighting to continue? Ten years? A hundred years?
In contrast to the human condition, there is undeniably a proper order that all forms of existence in the universe exemplify. God created us to participate in this order, not to live in this state of conflicted disorder. You need to know that it is your duty and responsibility as a human being to dispel all temptations directed at your outer self, your physical body, and to achieve victory in life by following the way of your inner self, your conscience. Heavenly fortune will be with those who live in this way. They will accomplish the perfection of the spirit self.
Ladies and gentlemen, what kind of places are heaven and hell? What people enter heaven? If it really does exist, where would it be? Would it be outside the galaxy, on the other side of the sky? If it does not exist, is it a product of our imagination? These are questions that everyone has pondered at least once.
In brief, heaven is a world overflowing with God’s true love and established with true love as its axis. It is a world where true love is the external form as well as the internal content of every environment. It is a world where true love is present at the beginning and end of life. It is a world filled with people who were born through true love, live in the embrace of true love, and follow the path of true love as they pass on into the next world, the spirit world.
Consequently, antagonism and jealousy are not to be found in that world, because it is a world where each person naturally lives for the sake of the other. It is not a world governed by money, glory or power. It is a world wherein the whole succeeds with the success of each person, the whole appreciates what each person appreciates, and the whole feels joyful through the joy of each person.
Heaven is a world filled with the air of true love, where all breathe true love. It is a world where life throbs with love everywhere at every moment. It is a world whose constituent members are all connected to the true God through family ties. It is a place where the whole world and all people are linked together in a network of inseparable relationships, similar to that of the cells in our bodies. It is a world that is governed by true love alone, the love that is God’s essence. Accordingly, God also exists for true love.
What love is true love? The essence of true love is not to have others serve you; it is you giving and serving others. True love gives and forgets that it has given and continues to give endlessly. This is a love that feels pleasure in giving. It is the heart of pleasure. It is the love of a mother holding her baby to her bosom and breastfeeding it. It is expressed through sacrifice, as when, with pleasure, a child acts out of filial piety toward his or her parents. It is the love that God expressed when creating human beings, an act of absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal love that gives without any condition or expectation of receiving anything in return.
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