Speeches of Hyo Jin Moon 2006-2008
Delivered Sunday at Belvedere Estate in Tarrytown, New York
Hyo Jin Moon Speaks on What Do You Want to Love?, Page 281

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

What Do You Want To Love?

April 29, 2007

Good morning.

Let's talk about love. What Do You Want To Love?" (Hyo Jin nim waits for an answer.)

Say something! (Laughter.)

What do you want to love? (God.) You want to love God, what else? (Everybody.) I guess this is the kind of answer you'd expect in a religious setting, right?

What about people who are not religious? What do you think that they want to love—money, fame, power, beauty?

And so I guess we all have our definition of love. It depends on a kind of tribal reality. The particulars are obviously stressed. That's why it's hard at times to unite everybody, because a lot of us all around the world base ourselves on that kind of reality, tribal reality, what we value as love, the concept of it varies. So, when everybody knows love is good, however, the value of love differs. There is obviously a potential for conflict, and that difference makes it difficult at times. But certain things are fundamental regardless of how you may like a particular thing, desire a particular thing. One could translate that desire as the definition of love.

Certain particulars are universal, and anytime you talk about unity we have to understand, if it exists, what that particular is. Otherwise we have no grounds for unification. There is no foundation. There is no basis. So that recognition, if there is such a thing, that should be the ground in which we plant the seed. Otherwise it won't happen. 

When you talk about love, who do you want to love, what kind of people do you want to love? Beyond the kind of material things that we like to love, is there a type of people you want to love? What type of people can we think about universally and have a kind of mutual understanding, people whom you want to love? There has to be some kind of quality there.

It's very difficult to unite something unless you have that understanding and unless you want to love something.

When you try to show love to your children, first of all, there has to be a basis in which they can understand and they can reciprocate with you. That becomes the cause of understanding or realizing love. What is that?

You can start with giving, right? What kind of giving? You have to give based on the level of understanding and maturity they have. That is the first thing that teaches us of the concept of love. It might start with the frivolous things for children because they're still immature. Their maturation level is relatively low, however it still starts with giving. Giving what? It varies. But the concept of giving is the basis of learning about love or making love, the realization of love. So, what do you want to give? When you talk about the concept of giving, what is actually happening? If that is the cause, what is the effect? When you give something to somebody hopefully you give because you want that person to what? To become better, right? And that completion of cause and effect, action and reaction, makes you realize love. It has to be better. It has to make you better in the end.

When you give certain things to children, they might feel better because you're giving candy or what not, but that giving or that understanding and better feeling might be temporary. You make them feel better. They're sad and all of a sudden you give them candy and they feel better. It might be very short in terms of duration, however, through that little child, by the action of giving, something has turned in their little moment of life, in their head, something better.

So, when we mature to the point of understanding eternity or start to ponder or try to understand God, obviously the value of giving or the quality of giving, the stuff that you want to receive, takes on a value or meaning that is equal to that pursuit, right? You want to learn about eternity. You want to learn about God. Then the giving, the something that makes you better, should possess that kind of eternal quality.

It changes as we mature. And as we mature to the fullest adulthood, we can start to understand those things, the things of eternal value in terms of making you better. That is what's valuable in giving. You talk about unconditional giving, but the funny thing is that even unconditional giving has conditions. Why?

It has to make you better in the eyes of God. It has to make you a better person who can co-relate and co-exist with God for eternity. You can't just unconditionally give money to terrorists so that they can kill people. That's not unconditional giving. Even forgiveness. There is no such thing as unconditional forgiveness. It has to have meaning, purpose. It has to have a purpose as a condition.

How can you forgive somebody if he doesn't have in his heart the wrong that he has committed? What is the purpose? There is no purpose then. There is no meaning. It has to have conditions. Even in giving someone unconditional love, unconditional forgiveness, it has conditions because it must serve a purpose. Purpose of goodness, right? Eternal goodness. Otherwise there's no meaning. They'll do it again and again and again, right? What is the purpose of forgiving wrong if it's going to be done over and over and over again? It has no purpose.

We want to love people who make us better, right? That's the kind of love that we want, right? Someone who can help you to be better. Because when you receive that kind of love you know it's meaningful to you as much as to the person who gives it away. And that's meaningful, that's the kind of people you want to love in the end, for a long time, the longer the better right? (Yes.) That's not easy. Who said it was easy, right? (Laughter.)

Anything that is meaningful, anything that is worth holding on to forever is challenging and will be difficult to achieve, but it can be done. If God can endure all sorts of misery and pain that we've caused Him in our lifetime, if God's allowing us to understand and make that happen, then He will assist us in every way He can. That's a pretty good deal, isn't it? (Laughter.)

And it can be done if we understand the value of love and how it's done. If we take responsibility to be the kind of people we should be, and to have the people around you, around us, we want to truly love and have them love you, it can be done. That's the grassroot thing. You know what I'm saying? (Yes.)

It will grow. That stuff, if it grows that way, it will last because it will take root first and it will grow. And I believe everybody can do that, be valuable to someone else, because you can give to someone else something of value and make someone else better, hopefully better than you. Now that is the ideal world. That's how you build it. If there is a way, that's the way. 

You can do it. You might get addicted to it. Who knows? Certain personality types gravitate to those things much quicker than others, right? So it varies, but it can be done. The more people like that we have, the better for our movement.

Okay? Take care you guys.