Speeches of Hyo Jin Moon 2006-2008
Delivered Sunday at Belvedere Estate in Tarrytown, New York
Hyo Jin Moon Speaks on Attraction and Expectation,  Page 64

Some episodes may contain explicit language. Listener discretion is advised.

 

Attraction and Expectation

March 19,2006

Another day of judgment. That's just how it is. Today I would like to talk about, "Attraction and Expectation."

There are a lot of young people here. What are you attracted to? Physical things, mental things, spiritual things? Ultimately in life, we have to define where we stand at every step of the way in our lives. And we always have to contend with the reality that we face when dealing with ourselves. In ourselves there's always a conflict of mind and body. And we ultimately search for the greater spiritual truth when we look at everything, even a single word, for instance, a word that we use casually to describe things and communicate with one another. Everything should have some kind of connection ultimately to the main reality—body, mind, and spirit.

We have to know the process of how to go about achieving that union. Understanding that process, I think, is a kind of lifelong endeavor we all inevitably have to face and have to answer ultimately in the end—because if you don't, well, you are going to be lost. A lot of you bring your children here and if you are lost, then obviously your children will be lost too. It's important to talk about these matters to your children. Tell them why people get attracted to certain things, and what is the meaning of this or that. Start with the very basic things, simple things that are important and relevant to children growing up. Because, whether you understood it or not, it was important to you too. Maybe it's important that if you didn't question yourself to that extent, maybe it's time for the sake of someone else that you try to redefine what you think you have understood up to now. You can do that for the sake of someone else you care about. Everything doesn't have to revolve around you.

So attraction. What is it? Let's just talk about physical attraction for a moment. People are attracted to good looking people, right? We see beautiful people on television and in movies. Physical beauty is important. When looking at the physical we find that people are attracted to those who seem to have power, powerful things, powerful this, powerful that. Whether it's a creature out there in the wild kingdom or it is something that represents or is symbolic of power, if power is involved, people get attracted to it. In current civilization, money is also very attractive. Look at all the kinds of networks out there. These share information and advance various social settings. These are pretty much the things that rule today. It's very difficult not to see it. You see it all the time, constantly, because it's effective. Effective in what way? Obviously it's for the sake of color, but it's effective. People do pay attention to those things. People want those things, desire those things because they are attractive to them. Next you get into mental stuff, intellectual attraction. Intellectual attraction goes toward people who do creative things whether it's color, sound, wording and words, or mechanical things. Anything that involves creativity or having some kind of mastery over things, being a virtuoso or showing some kind of specialty or maybe just a wealth of knowledge in general. People are attracted intellectually to those types of people.

And obviously, finally, we come to the spiritual stuff. For something to have spiritual attraction it has to have eternal purpose and value, that's what we are taught to understand. Something that is spiritually attractive has that end. Something has to come forward and when that is given, when that is manifest, it enthralls you. That is the kind of stuff—inspirations, lessons, or the value you want to inherit—because that's what the spiritual represents. This spiritual quality can be in many things. It can be all the greatness that defines what is eternally great—true love. It can be in many forms. You can even see it sometimes in the action of a little child. It doesn't matter. You will know it when you see it because it will always ring true in you. It's not just you. Even after you pass, it will ring true for generations and generations. To people who search and seek out that kind of eternal truth, things of that nature will always resonate. It will always have some value. It will give you purpose from it. Okay.

That's the basic outline of what I think is attractive—physically, intellectually, and spiritually. The next question is what are we going to do with this? If we have these kinds of things, what are you going to do with it? Before you get into even that step of questioning—do you have it, something that you can share with others? Do you have something that is attractive? And if you do, what are you going to do with it? When you watch television people, you see them use a lot of attractive things to sell stuff, right? Now election season is coming. People are going to go on television and try to make themselves attractive and appealing. They're going to sell themselves so they can get elected. You see all sorts of this kind of thing. Whether people are involved in politics, of course, obviously people are always selling stuff. They're always in our way, trying to pitch their product, making themselves look as attractive as possible. But is it true? Unfortunately, many times it's the consumer who finds out the hard way. I wish there was some kind of guarantee that you are only getting what you are promised.

Society really does not have a clear definition of what is true eternity or true love. Think even about orthodox religions, still they are waiting for the messiah. This is whether you are Jewish, Christian, Catholic, or Muslim—you are still waiting for something, a savior to come. The unorthodox, but also the 'second class' monotheistic religions, Mormons, Scientologists, the Moonies, right? But at least we believe that somebody's already here. We're not waiting for nobody, we just have to prove it. You just have to go out and convince people that it is. We are all right, but you need to have more give and take and learn.

People are out there selling their stuff every day, every day, using attractiveness. The funny thing is in cities, all these smart people who can show their intelligence and intellectual brilliance, come to work just to try to move up the corporate ladder. They labor away every day just to show their brilliance, their specialty, and their excellence. But the funny thing is that in the end, they normally don't show any of these things. That's pretty much how it is in the end. That intellectual stuff, for them, that's the pinnacle, that's the maximum for them. They settle there. They like to have the horizontal stuff but they don't want to go up any higher. They don't want to pursue spirituality. So, in the end, they pretty much come down again. They use their talent, their brilliance, to indulge in what? In materialism. When you have attraction it's very, very, very easy to be indulgent. It's very, very easy to exploit things because you have that power. You have that power to attract. And if you don't know how to contain that, that attraction can be devastating to civilization. Because what you are glorifying is pretty much self-destructive things such as exploitation, indulgence, self-aggrandizement, self-centeredness. Once you start exploiting and you get used to, and start enjoying indulgence, you are going to become self-centered very soon. It's pretty much a given. You can 100 percent expect that person to become self-centered sometime soon, period. You can't be exploitive and self-indulgent and be a nice person. You don't become a nice person by doing this kind of stuff. This is important because it's basic, it's the bedrock of trying to be decent, nice and honest. If you want your children to understand that stuff, you have to know how to define what tricks them into becoming that kind of exploitive, self-centered person. There are things out there that encourage people down that path, not just children but even you, even me, it doesn't matter how old or young you are.

You will learn until the day you die things that you can teach about how to become a better person by truly defining the meaning of attraction, things that are attractive to you. You have to make a list of do's and dont’s and keep them in your mind, and in yourself. Start from there. What kind of attraction is a "do" and what kind of attraction is a "don't." See what works for you. If it works for you, teach your children. Just start from there. You can do that, right? For the sake of your children. And try to compare notes. In other words, what you are saying and what you see on television, sit together and talk about it. Start there. Have a healthy discussion. That's the best way to get to know your kids and that's the best way to teach your children how to respect you and depend on you when it comes to deciding on the things that are right, learning what is moral and whatever. The only way they are going to come closer to you is when you have become that kind of figure in their lives. Right? That's why you come with your children. You're hoping to see somebody who is going to stand here to be some kind of a figure like that, that's about it isn't it? I'm not saying that I'm that kind of figure but that's what you expect. It's the same thing. You have to have that kind of relationship with yourself first. You have to define that stuff to yourself first. You have to say, does it make sense to me, can I believe in this stuff, do I accept this stuff? Yeah, okay, then if somebody needs sharing, I share it with them, hey man, what. How does it sound? Sound okay? Okay, let's tell our kids then. Like I said, last week I talked about team spirit and team practice. Hey, then you share it, do it with your friends and stuff.

That's what you should talk about, not stupid gossip. Because it is more important to us that we have a higher level, a higher quality. Define things this way, that's how you compete. That's what people look at when you are competing. Otherwise, you can't compete. You are going to lose. You are going to lose out on those things. And it's the small things that make the difference between first and second. All those things matter.

We need to control everything we define. So before we think about control, you have to define it properly. Please, if you don't define it properly, don't even think about trying to control it. You are going to screw up big. It's not going to last. Even if you think you have something, it's not going to last. So, start from something that people take for granted, but your children are interested in. Let it be true to you. Then you can die for it. Yeah, that definition—I vouch my life on that stuff. Start from there. And when your children want to look at you, they want you to be confident. How else? When there's so much temptation pulling them left and right, if you can't even define certain things with confidence, that's not going to give them any kind of confidence. So, it's important. All those little things are important and you must define it properly because that's God's expectation, that's Father's expectation to humanity.

Know how to take care of yourself and starting from your family, take care of them before you start going out with this 'I'm going to change the world' stuff. If you have that opportunity, use it wisely. It's a great time for you to be learning, too. I'm grateful. I'm going to do my best. I don't think it's ever lost. They'Il come back to me one day, my children. What I got, I'm doing my best. I'll do better. I have more to prove. I want to be an attractive dad.

Take care of yourself. I'll see you next week.