Cheon Seong Gyeong 211
The Unification Church teaches about the parent-child relationship and the husband-wife relationship based on such a principle. Furthermore, it proposes to incorporate such a principle in the relationship of siblings and the family as a whole. We are not talking about brothers and sisters who just meet once and then part, but those who do not grow tired of one another even after living together for tens of thousands of years. God’s sphere of love will be established only when this is put into practice by people of all colors. Will this be easy? There must be the kind of parents who will share their food with people, wait patiently until they finish eating, do the dishes and even take care of them until they go to sleep. This is the very path that True Parents have been trying to walk, and the path that I believe they must follow. Each day, whenever I meet someone, I try to talk to him, even if I forget about lunch and even keep talking past dinner time. This is my philosophy. Meals are not important. I want to find those whom I would not grow tired of even after living together with them for tens of thousands of years. I am the kind of person who longs to have a son and daughter whom I can love after midnight, after two o’clock in the morning, after the cock crows and even when the dawn breaks – all throughout the night. Also, I am someone who seeks a brother or sister. (127-284, 1983.5.15)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 438
If grandparents are in an environment that is not harmonized, they do not feel good. The sight of a grandfather and grandmother laughing with each other cannot be compared to the noisy laughter of a young couple. The deep laughter of wrinkled grandparents is quite dignified. You may not know this, but all things come together in harmony through the grandfather and grandmother’s laughter as they harmonize with each other. The grandfather’s laughter is deep and hearty. When he gestures, his movements are slow, but broad, high, deep and large.
Tradition
Tradition contains the accumulated wisdom of the generations. It is bequeathed through the study of history, the recitation of proverbs and folklore, in public ceremonies and at home. Some of its best teaching material consists of the lives of great men and women, as well as ordinary citizens who lived lives of exemplary goodness and self-sacrifice. Tradition can be hard to find in today’s culture of celebrity and instant fame, yet its importance can hardly be overlooked.
Family lies at the heart of tradition. Parents pass on their values and morals to their children through teaching and example. Good parents encourage their children to keep their ways and even surpass them. A stable family structure maintains and strengthens tradition, passing on its wisdom to succeeding generations.
Tradition endures.
Akan Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
Jeremiah 6.16
Taming Power of the Great:
The superior man acquaints himself with many sayings of antiquity
and many deeds of the past,
in order to strengthen his character thereby.
I Ching 26 (Confucianism)
The teachers… put into his hands the works of great poets, and make him read and learn them by heart, sitting on his bench at school. These are full of instruction and of tales and praises of famous men of old, and the aim is that the boy may admire and imitate and be eager to become like them.
Plato, Protagoras 325e (Hellenism)
On Thee alone we ever meditate,
And ponder over the teachings of the loving mind,
As well as the acts of the holy men,
Whose souls accord most perfectly with truth.
Avesta, Yasna 34.2 (Zoroastrianism)
The virtues of what the ancients had to say, when perfectly digested and thoroughly penetrated, will all be useful for self-cultivation, and they can daily be put into practice and carried out thoroughly and steadfastly.
Chu Hsi (Confucianism)
Without proverbs [traditional wisdom], the language would be but a skeleton without flesh, a body without a soul.
Zulu Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.
Socrates (Hellenism)
If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.
Isaac Newton
He established a testimony in Jacob,
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children;
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments.
Psalm 78.5-7
Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain insight;
for I give you good precepts:
do not forsake my teaching.
When I was a son with my father,
tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
he taught me, and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments, and live;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
Get wisdom; get insight.
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.”
Proverbs 4.1-6