Ep 873 - The Path of Life for All Humankind Part 14
The Path of Life for All Humankind - March 17, 2023
Key Points
Because we will breathe true love in the spiritual world, in order to survive and move freely there, we must prepare beforehand by practicing true love on earth and developing our five spiritual senses.
We learn and practice true love through the 4 great realms of heart, 3 great kingships, and the realm of the royal family.
Freedom is found in the truth, in the spirit of the lord, in true love, in unity between mind and body, between spouses, among brothers and sisters, and between Cain and Abel.
While fallen human beings do not want to be governed by anyone, it is happiness being governed by a loved one in the realm of true love.
We must thoroughly receive the guidance of Abel voluntarily and with great joy in our life of faith during the formation period.
The person in Abel's position must always show interest and love so that the person in Cain's position has no choice but to come report.
Even if we do not love and respect Abel, we should report conditionally and invest in developing that relationship.
In order to rid ourself of our fallen nature, we must make the effort and have sincere devotion to serve Abel.
Being critical of others and resentful of their criticism of us indicates we still have formation-stage faith.
Feeling that the other person’s faults are our own is evidence of our spiritual growth and allows us to maintain our spirit and avoid personal hurt.
Though our seniors in faith may have many faults, we should regard these people as precious for having kept faith for many years.
To rid ourself of preconceptions about a person and improve our relationship with him, we need to view him from God’s parental point of view and accept his faults as our own.
Transcripts from November 3, 2021 to the present, personal notes from November 11, 2020 until November 2, 2021 and slides from August 29, 2021 to the present are available at MD.Hoondok.com as PDF files.♦
I am so excited to see each one of you every morning! Wow! It is a beautiful online holy community.
Yesterday, I had breakfast with five New Jersey church members. They are Koji & Yukari Ozawa, a beautiful couple, Yasu’s parents.
(This) is Keiko Farah. We had a beautiful meeting.
Also, I have not met him (often), but yesterday I met with Ryosuke Takii.
This guy is Masaki Fujimura.
Our morning breakfast meeting is really beautiful and powerful, sharing. Even though we don’t have much time, we have a very close feeling with each other.
Today I’d like to talk about “The Path of Life for All Humankind” from True Mother’s Anthology, Book 2.
<This speech was given by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon between February 11 and May 29, 1999 at events promoting the Global Expansion of True Families in Japan, the United States and around the world.>
At the moment of our death, we leave the second world, the world of air, and fully connect to the third world, the world of love. We leave behind the love of our natural parents and siblings and enter the spirit world. There we eventually enter the sphere of love in which we merge with the original body of God. The seed comes from the original body, so it has to bear fruit and return to the original body. In the spirit world, people breathe and live centered on love. A person who is unable to develop a complete character of love will be limited in his or her movements. This person will not be able to move freely. If there are several gates, for example, he or she may be allowed to enter through one gate only. If a person wants to be able to fit in with any season, any place or any time, he or she needs to develop a character of perfect love. This is why human beings were created to live through three stages.
The dragonfly lives first as a nymph, swimming around in water. Then it climbs out of the water and molts. Finally, it starts to fly and begins catching and eating bugs that it would never have imagined eating while underwater. It flies around with the world as its stage. There are many insects that have wings and develop through different stages. Human beings, who are the highest form of creation, have wings of a higher dimension. We are born in love, live in love and, as God's representatives, give birth to sons and daughters through love. Eventually, we reach the resting place of love and return home so that we may live eternally in God's presence. In other words, our lives begin in love, ripen in love and are finally harvested as the fruit of love. When a person dies, he or she harvests the fruit of love.
The spirit world is a world made of love. It is filled with the air of love. That is why we must prepare our organs through which we can breathe love (while still in) the earthly world.
Although we live on earth, we must train our five spiritual senses centering on true love. The physical senses, like animals, focus only on the senses of what to eat, what to drink and what to wear and how to make money. But in order to go to the spiritual world, we need to train our five spiritual senses centering on true love.
Therefore, only when we become a person who can experience the spirit world and feel and breathe spiritual love, we will not die in the spirit world. In the spirit world, people breathe and live centered on love.
A person who is unable to develop a complete character of love will be limited in his or her movements. This person will not be able to move freely. If there are several gates, for example, he or she may be allowed to enter through one gate only. If a person wants to be able to fit in with any season, any place or any time, he or she needs to develop a character of perfect love.
The problem is how we will bear the fruit of true love while living in the physical body on earth. What we must keep in mind is that the fruit of true love is borne through the four great realms of heart, three great kingships, and the realm of the royal family.
How can we experience true love? (That experience must be) based on the family. Family is everything. It is where we raise our character of true love. How can we become a (person) of true love centered on the family? Three generations, Four great realms of heart and the realm of the royal family. How to become a person of true love? (It is in the family.)
LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: The Human Fall 28: Freedom, the Fall and Restoration
• To summarize, freedom cannot exist outside the Principle. Freedom is accompanied by the responsibility laid out in the Principle, and Freedom pursues accomplishments that bring joy to God.
• Free actions generated by free will bring about only good results.
• Therefore, freedom cannot have caused the human Fall.
• Rather, the human Fall was caused by the stronger power of unprincipled love, which overwhelmed the freedom of the original mind.
• In truth, human beings lost their freedom as a result of the Fall.
• When Eve was tempted by the angel, she became confused emotionally and intellectually. Although the freedom of her original mind induced in her a sense of foreboding, because the power of the love between her and the angel was stronger, she crossed the boundary and fell.
• Conversely, since fallen people can also relate with God in freedom, if they follow the words of truth, form a common base and engage in give and take with Him, then the power of principled love can revive their original nature.
It Cannot be That Freedom Caused the Human Fall
1. Freedom cannot exist outside the Principle. Freedom is accompanied by the responsibility laid out in the Principle, and freedom pursues accomplishments that bring joy to God. Free actions generated by free will bring about only good results.
2. Those who pursue free actions generated by free will bring about only results of the Principle, responsibility and accomplishment. Therefore it cannot be that freedom caused the human Fall. It is written, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” ( Cor. 3:17)
Freedom of the Original Nature
3. As long as Adam and Eve were bound by God's warning not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they should have kept this commandment by their free will and without God's intervention. Certainly, the freedom of their original mind, which is inherently responsible and seeks the good, was prompting them to obey it. When Eve was about to deviate from the Principle, the freedom of her original mind aroused fear and foreboding in her in an attempt to prevent her from deviating. (DP 88)
4. Ever since the Fall, this freedom of the original mind has been working to bring people back to God. Working in this way, freedom could not possibly have caused human beings to fall.(DP88)
Where is Freedom?
1. There is freedom in the truth (John 8:32: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.)
If we know the Principle, we are free. That is why the Bible says when we know the truth, the truth will set us free. If we don’t know the Principle, we can commit a crime. Therefore, we must know the will of God and True Parents through hoondokhae, through Divine Principle. Through reading the Divine Principle we can understand God’s will, his mind and heart. As long as we understand God’s will, heart and mind, we are free. If we don’t know God’s will, the Divine Principle, then we become confused. We don’t know what to do, where to go, how to solve the problem. That is why we need to know the Divine Principle and True Parents’ word. Then our original mind is really free. We don’t need to struggle any more because (things are) very clear. That is why we need to know the truth; we need to know the Divine Principle. The Divine Principle will set us free.
2. There is freedom where the spirit of the Lord is(2 Corinthians 3:17)
> Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Because God is the subject of true love, wherever God is there is always freedom. Where True Parents are, there is freedom. If True Parents are in our heart, our heart will be free. Therefore, a life that always attends God is the freest life. If we live self-centeredly, there is no freedom. Where God is, our heart is free. Where True Parents are, we feel free, so protected!
3. Where true love dwells, there is freedom. If we possess true love, there is no place we cannot pass through. No matter where we go, we pass without restrictions.
True love loves everything. As long as we have true love, we can pass everywhere. Free pass. True love is to love God and humans and all things. Therefore, wherever there is true love, there is always freedom.
When we love someone, we can feel free, right? When we truly love our wife, we can feel free, right? Even though our enemy hates us, if we truly love our enemy, our heart really feels free. The character of true love is amazing. Where there is true love, you can feel freedom.
4. There is freedom in the place where we become one.
> Where is freedom where body and mind become one, husband and wife become one, brothers and sisters become one, and Cain and Abel become one.
We can feel freedom.
Where we become one, there is God. However, to become one only the Principle and love and heart are possible.
Therefore, becoming one means that there was love and heart and Principle. When our mind controls and subjugates our body, Wow! We really feel free.
In the beginning when I started to eat only two meals, it was not easy. But when I overcame, I seldom had dinner. In the beginning this was challengine, but after I overcame, I really feel free. I have no more struggle with the desire to eat. I feel so free. Especially when I have breakfast and skip dinner, I feel so happy in overcoming. Whenever we control our physical body, even though we may struggle in the beginning, but when we overcome our physical limitation, physical desire, we are so free. Where there is oneness, there is freedom.
When we truly unite with our wife or husband, we can feel free. But if there is struggle with our spouse or our children, there is no freedom. There is so much anxiety and struggle, right? Where there is oneness, there is freedom. Where there is oneness, there is God. God’s name is oneness. Where is freedom? The Divine Principle teaches us very, very clearly, right?
TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: How to Forget Other People's Faults
Thoroughly Accept the Leadership of Abel
1. During the formation stage in our life of faith, we must thoroughly be supervised by our Abel of faith. We must absolutely obey Abel. You must treat Abel as the mediator to understand God's will and raise the level of your heart. In the early stage of faith, those who do not attend Abel cannot get rid of their fallen nature. Therefore, in order to rid myself of my fallen nature, I must make the effort and jeongsong to serve Abel.
The formation stage of faith sees the faults of others and quickly criticizes them. However, as your faith grows, when you see the faults of others, you feel them as your own faults. It is easy for us to view each other horizontally between our brothers and seniors and juniors and blame each other for their faults.
But can you ignore your seniors because they are not good examples? If you see your seniors doing something wrong, you must seriously reflect on yourself first.
Fallen human beings do not want to be governed by anyone. However, in the realm of true love, being governed by a loved one is happiness.
It is love that the person I respect supervises me. From this point of view, a person is a being who is governed by love and is supposed to feel happiness and joy while being governed by love.
To say that we must thoroughly receive the guidance of Abel in our life of faith during the formation period is not a conditional requirement. It means that we should do it voluntarily and with great joy under their guidance.
“Oh, in the formation stage I absolutely obey my Abel.” Sometimes we feel it is by duty or by responsibility ro (even) by force. It cannot be done like that. We really need to love our Abel voluntarily.
I was so grateful when I met Yo Han Lee. Of course, he was my Abel and my spiritual father. I loved him; I respected him. In order to pass through the formation stage when we are asked to love our Abel, it (must) not be by duty or (as sense of) responsibility. When we truly respect and love him, automatically we can pass (beyond) the formation stage. But when we do it by force or by being pushed, we cannot overcome formation stage. To overcome formation stage, we need to truly respect our Abel, love our Abel centered on a volunteer heart, happily, joyfully. Only then can we pass through the formation stage.
If we sincerely love and respect Abel, we will go see them and discuss everything with them. Therefore, the person in Abel's position must always show interest and love so that the person in Cain's position has no choice but to come report.
“Why didn’t you report to me?! Why did you disobey me? Why? Why?” People scolding (Cain?) need to reflect as Abel, “How much do I love him? How interested am I in him?” If we love our Cain so much, then he will automatically report to us. That is why if someone does not report to us and discuss with us and decides everything by himself, that means our Cain still feels a lack of love. If we truly love our Cain, he will surely report to us because he wants to make his Abel happy.
If we truly love and respect Abel, we will obey him. However, if we just report, discuss and are supervised without a heart of love and respect, that relationship cannot last.
However, the important thing is that we must do our basic duty even if we don't have a heart of respect and love for our Abel. Even if we do not report well at first, we must report at least conditionally. At first, we report conditionally, then as we gradually invest our sincere devotion into it, our relationship with Abel grows closer.
When that happens, we will automatically set up Abel as the mediator; we will gradually come to know God's will; and the level of our heart will rise.
In the early stage of faith, those who do not attend Abel cannot get rid of their fallen nature. Therefore, in order to rid ourself of our fallen nature, we must (make) the effort and (have) sincere devotion to serve our Abel.
Principles of Religious Life
6. An inexperienced person like me should think that I can still make bigger mistakes than the senior who has done wrong despite entering the church before me, offering sincere devotion and following the will until now. You have to reflect on yourself seriously, thinking that this is not just a problem for that senior. Like this, religious life is to reflect on yourself and worry about yourself before worrying about others. That's the principle. But you don't worry about yourself, you worry about others first. Despite the many shortcomings of the seniors of faith, you should still value them while watching them struggle in order to lead a better religious life. Therefore, if you look at other people's faults, you should realize that you will be like them and reflect on yourself. We need that kind of awareness. In this way, faith is to reflect on yourself first and make a greater determination by looking at the other person's faults.
If we look at other people's faults and criticize them quickly, it is proof that our faith is staying centered on ourself. It is difficult for such a self-centered faith to go beyond the formation level.
People who criticize others quickly are usually very narrow-minded.
We need to check. First, anyone who criticizes very quickly and is easily angered is narrow-minded. Secondly, those who criticize easily and are quick to anger are very arrogant.
There are very few narrow minded people who can compromise with the other person. And when others criticize us, we can't accept it and get angry easily. And because of what the other person criticized about us, we continue to (be in) conflict and accumulate hatred.
So what evidence shows that our faith is growing? It is when (the) other person's faults begin to feel like our faults. This kind of person is proof that the spirit is gradually reviving.
This is a kind of transformation.
So, if we see our seniors going on the wrong path, we should seriously reflect on ourself first. Like that senior, we have to think that when we grow that old, we could commit a bigger mistake than that senior, and we have to worry about ourself first.
True faith has no time to worry about others. First, we have to worry about our own spirit first. If we regard other people's faults as our own, at least we can maintain our spirit and never take any damage.
Therefore, the life of faith is to reflect on and worry about oneself before worrying about others. That's the principle. However, fallen human beings do not worry about themselves and worry about others first.
Even though our seniors in faith had many shortcomings and committed sins, we should regard them as precious, thinking that they still remain on the path of the will and struggle in order to lead a better life of faith.
They are still remaining even though they are struggling. They are still challenging (themselves) to overcome. We need to be grateful whenever we see that kind of senior person.
How to Forget Other People's Faults
7. The path of faith is always a path to reflect on oneself by using the other person as a mirror and move forward to a better level. However, if you look at the faults of the other person instead, what will happen if you label that person as bad or have a bad perception about him? Those who worry about their own growth will never remember the faults of others. Even if we hear bad things about the other person, we quickly forget them. Those who worry more about their own growth will quickly forget other people's faults. Why? It's because I'm more worried about my growth than focusing on the other person's shortcomings. Even if the other person made a mistake, if you accept it as your fault, you won't remember that person's faults at all. However, if you recognize the other person's fault as their fault, it will remain as a bad perception for you and you will not be able to let it go. If the faults of others are nailed to your heart, you cannot remove them. That's why you shouldn't remember other people's faults. Because the other person's faults are my faults.
When we see a person whose faith is not growing, we use that person as a mirror and criticize them without reflecting on ourself. And then, when dealing with that person, we treat them with that preconceived notion about them. We treat them with the thought of "that person is that kind of person. He is always like that."
If we treat people with preconceived notions, our life of faith will deviate from God's point of view, and God cannot work through us. We have to keep looking at everything from God's point of view and from the parents' point of view. However, when we have preconceived notions about the other person, our human relationship cannot get any better.
So how do we (get) rid of that preconception? First of all, we must look at it from God's point of view with the mind that everyone is such a precious son or daughter of God.
My son in law, Taka, is always with me, serving me every morning. Whenever I see them (he and his wife?), I feel they are so precious to me...
Whenever we see someone who has that kind of precious heart, treat them like a precious son or daughter of God. We can forget our preconceptions about them.
Anyone who comes to me, I treat them as “Oh, God has sent him to me,” and treat them with a really fresh mind. That is my mindset.
But if we think, “Oh, this guy is like that. His thinking is like that,” if we have our own preconceptions, God cannot help us any more. Sometimes I struggle about this. How can we overcome such preconceptions? Human beings haved such preconceptions. As long as we have preconceptions, how can we treat people preciously?
Whenever a prejudice arises, we must think that the other person sees us as a precious child when God looks at us.
And if we see the other person's flaws, we have to determine to do more for that person. And we have to take responsibility for his shortcomings and feel that we have to protect and love him no matter what. To do that, we need the heart and mind of a parent.
When we see someone’s shortcomings, then as Abel we need to think, “I need to be responsible for that. No matter what, I will raise him. No matter what, I will try to raise him.” If we have that kind of responsible heart and try to protect him and raise him in tears, then we can raise him well. The important thing is our heart and love first.
Those who worry about their own growth will never remember the faults of others. Even if we hear bad things about the other person, we quickly forget them. Those who worry more about their own growth than about others will soon forget the faults of others.
Why? It's because we are more worried about our growth than the other person.
There is no time to worry about the other person. We need to focus on our own growth. Why worry about others? We need to focus on our own issues, our own problems.
Even if the other person made a mistake, if we accept it as our fault, we won't remember that person's faults at all.
Today we learned how to forget other people’s faults.
(Testimony Jake Lavina, Seven Day Center Life Program, New Jersey)♦
NOTE: This text and the PowerPoint slides from this speech are available as a link at the top of this text. Transcripts from November 3, 2021 to the present, personal notes from November 11, 2020 until November 2, 2021 and slides from August 29, 2021 to the present are available at MD.Hoondok.com as PDF files. Books of the transcripts and notes are available as PDFs at MDBooks.Hoondok.com.
This lightly edited transcript may contain errors and omissions. Indecipherable, inaudible or uncertain words and guesses are tagged with a “(?)” and indecipherable phrases, with an ellipsis “...”. First, second and third person pronouns have been left as spoken if the meaning is clear, and other apparently Korean English expressions have been preserved if understandable. Some repeated phrases have been eliminated.
Audio only is available at anchor.morndev.com, spotify.morndev.com & audio.morndev.com. Notes or transcripts of Dr. Yong’s Morning Devotion speeches from November 11, 2020 through March 29, 2022 are available as six paperback books at cost at Lulu.com/Shop -- search for Dr. Chung Sik Yong -- and as PDF downloads free of charge at MDBooks.Hoondok.com.♦