Speeches of Hyo Jin Moon 2006-2008
Delivered Sunday at Belvedere Estate in Tarrytown, New York
Hyo Jin Moon Speaks on Repentance, Page 207

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

Repentance

November 19, 2006

Good morning.

Some of you should have stayed home. (Laughter.)

Do you want to be happy or do you want to be sad? (Happy.)

I'm sorry, but my topic is, "Repentance." Penitence demands repentance, right?

Do you like to see humble people or do you like to see arrogant people? There are so many ways to see people these days because everybody wants to be somebody. They want to prove that they have something to offer, whether it's for money, power—whatever it is in the secular setting. But to really be somebody takes a lifetime to prove.

Why? Perfection is given by God, not you. The ultimate judge is not you. When you even ponder the notion of individual perfection, you're only kidding yourself if you don't understand how things ultimately get judged.

Your parents force you to go to school and in the end the grade matters. It's not you who can dictate that you should  graduate with the grade you think that you deserve. This is the same system reflected in the basic outcome of dying. That's the basic premise that you have to accept. What you're actually experiencing is a little taste of that. 

You have no control over your perfection. That is the ultimate irony, because you can't judge yourself to be perfect. It doesn't work like that. Basically you're going through a certain conditioning process. It's not easy to get good at anything.

I'm here to talk to my age group or above. That's my forum here. It has nothing to do with what else I can do. Everything has a purpose. It's very specific. You have to target things to the point where it matters, to what you're actually trying to accomplish in that specific event or scenario. If I see little kids I know I'm talking to your parents. I'm not going to talk to you. It's not my focus. I can do that some other time, some other situation. I am here trying to do what I think is appropriate, that can best serve for the greater purpose. You have a whole lot of time ahead of you. I hate to see a lot of young people here. I want to see a lot of old people here. (Laughter.) I see young people when I go home.

You don't have to change anything. You have to change what is real. Real is not always you. Real is what is real. That's what we have to understand—real is always beyond you. That's why God is a suffering God, because He has a concept that makes Him a slave for all sorts of miserable things.

Please do not think that everything revolves around you. Repentance is a very necessary tool for conscience because it keeps you motivated. It keeps you moving forward. It causes you to evolve and find your perfection ultimately. Even that is not dictated by you. You don't have absolute control over that end.

You will have to die first to have the finality of that. Do you understand me? That is absolute. No one is an exception. Ultimately, it has to be represented, and the messiah is the representation. How do you go about using the tools we have? Conscience is a tool. Conscience, the device that makes you do something. It's a tool that tries to make us better. It's a blessing. It's a gift from God. A blessing is a tool that comes from God.

It's something that will aid you and support you, to make you into something better than you are. You have to know how to use it properly, because if you don't, you'll mess up. You'll lose the opportunity. You can't blame it on anyone else. In the end it is your responsibility to correct whatever you have to correct, whatever you have to complete, whatever you have to perfect.

When you talk about the concept of perfection, it is all about your idiosyncrasies. "I'm somebody special!" Perfection is just about catering to that nonsense. "I'm special." Special in what? You must prove it in the end. You have to die for it. You have to prove it by dying, and in doing so you'll prove your idiosyncratic, unique greatness, however minute, however miserable it might be. Trying to go beyond that and getting into grandiosity—why do you want to do that? Do you think that you can change the world without going through the basic process of things? I don't think so. If you don't understand what is basic, you can't even find yourself. There's no way you're going to get a grade. That's just the way it is.

Then what the hell are you dying for? That's the problem. There is no one else that's going to answer that question other than you, your individual self.

Why is repentance necessary? Because it keeps you busy, because lazy people get corrupted. When you start to have riches, why do you think people get corrupted? You might have all the good intentions for being a politician, and, of course, in politics you'll be full of ambition. That's what drives politicians to seek the highest office. They believe their ideals are better than the other guy, they imagine that, "If I just get power I will change the world." The problem is that you have an environment that is susceptible to all sorts of stuff that is not right for individual growth, and for finding oneself. Let's say this rich country is more privileged than other countries. You're going to have problems when things start to come easier and easier for you. Obviously you're going to get corrupted. Why? You have less time to repent and repentance at least keeps you busy. 

You try to be responsible for your own good, whatever you did, and not blame or worry about everybody else. "I did this and I'm responsible!" Repentance is a tool of conscience—through the evolving process that hopefully can give you that completion you desire. If you hold on to it maybe you have a chance, but if you let it go you have no chance.

Right or wrong, in the end you have to stand, because God will judge you. Even Sun Myung Moon will be judged by God. My father, the messiah, will be judged by God. Absolutely .

I believe that. That's what I've learned. That's what I accept. There is no exception to the rule. If anybody says otherwise, (hits the podium) Why? Who are you? You have to analyze those little monkeys. You have to find out where that guy's tail lies. Not tale stories, animal tail. Someone will step on it one day. Because it is not that simple. You pay for it. And you are going to live with it. You are going to make it right. Not somebody else. It's not you who suffer, it's I suffer. Do you understand what I am saying? If you do something wrong you are going to suffer one way or the other. It doesn't matter how you excuse yourself. If you're man enough, you wouldn't.

Everybody can be broken. In a war situation when someone is a torturer, they're the one who has the self-righteousness on their side. They are the one who is greater and superior. That's what gives them the right to torture their enemy prisoners to make them repent for their sins against you. Everybody can be broken. What does that prove in war? Nothing.

Let's talk about historical indemnity. Let's say that you went through that torture for the sake of humanity, for your lineage. Make it true to that. Don't say anymore beyond that. Let it go. You move on, think about yourself from now on, because nobody is going to take care of you. You have to take care of yourself and each other, if we have a community, if we're building one. I would like to see all sorts of people in my family. I don't want to see just yellow faces in my family.

I don't intend to be something more than what I am. That is the essence of people like me. That means a lot. I don't care what people say. I make my own decisions.

What's important is what is good, and what is basic. Basic ultimately can bring the idealism regardless of who we are. That's the most important thing.

You think you can make a living, yes, but what if everything collapses? If you have a lazy mind, it will be absolutely corrupt. And [if] you have an environment that caters to that kind of reality, then it will pretty much wipe out the young generation. But we can change that. We have to make a difference.

Define what you get beyond yourself. Try—keep on trying until you see the light on your own way. I don't care how long it takes. I hope you make it before you die. I can't help you beyond that. If you don't take care of your residual stuff it will get passed down and somebody else will bear the greater burden. That's just the way it is. What if an asteroid the size of Jupiter comes from outside our solar system and you get vaporized? You want to know the truth? Start with yourself, and then get into the bigger war, then you and everybody [will] find more truth. Every day truth is changing. Hey, don't kid yourself.

Everybody has the voice to be heard, but don't kid yourself. Do something before you die. And you will die. You will die of disease, accident, suicide, or natural causes. You will die. Even if you live to your fullest, how long do you think you will live? Do you know how you're going to be judged? Are you working on your grade? Do you really know what you're going to be graded upon? Be real, all right?