Peaceful Families; Peaceful World Workshop-May 27 to May 29
Peace Kingdom Center, Harpers Ferry , WV
May 27- Abstinence-Centered Curriculum Training
May 28- Unification Principle Study
May 29- Strengthening Families and Communities Forum
Cheon Seong Gyeong 2196
I am not suggesting that we now need to learn about a God who is in a state of happiness. You may or may not want to do that. It is not important. What we have to know first is that we have to become filial children, patriots and virtuous women. The person who is to establish filial piety emerges out of difficulties. Loyalty is not fulfilled when a country is in a comfortable position. Loyalty is not realized when the country is enjoying prosperity and its people are well off. A person can only be called a patriot of the nation when, at the time of his nation’s greatest crisis, its gravest peril, he asks, “Will you die or will I die? Will the whole country perish or survive?” If, at this moment, he dedicates himself wholeheartedly, risks his life, fulfills his duty and successfully alters the destiny of his country, then he can be called a patriot. The historical records show that it is in the times of difficulty that the great names appear. These loyal, filial and virtuous people are remembered forever. (151-219, 1962.12.15)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1123
Adam and Eve were to be the body of God. They were to be the horizontal parents, while God was the vertical Parent. We should eventually discard this horizontal body, enter the original homeland vertically, and live in attendance to the eternal King in the heavenly kingdom. Had Adam and Eve not fallen, then through perfecting themselves, they would have become God’s body and the king and queen of love. They would have fulfilled their portion of responsibility connecting the realms of direct and indirect dominion on earth through the love of God. (213-190, 1991.1.20)
Meditation
5. Visualizations and Visions
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
As you become one with all beings, what phenomena will occur? You will feel something multidimensional that you have never felt before. It will come mysteriously…
Once you enter the door to your mind, you will have intuitions and premonitions. Maybe as you walk down the street you see a bird flying. All of sudden, you feel the door to your mind opening. You do not realize what is happening, but suddenly you receive a heavenly inspiration that teaches you some lesson. Maybe the inspiration will hit you when you hear someone talking. The more you practice, the more often you will experience such incidents. The next stage is to enter a dream-like state, not a dream in deep sleep but a state half dreaming and half waking. The Apostle Paul experienced three levels of heaven in that state, when he did not know whether it was a dream or reality…
Do not let such experiences pass casually. Collect them, analyze them logically, and figure out the direction that God is leading you. Keep a record of your experiences every day and you will see that your most unforgettable visions actually came true; their predictions were one hundred percent accurate.
Maybe in that dream-like state you were talking with someone about certain things, and later on you actually talk with that person and the things you discussed actually happen. Maybe in your dream you and a friend were singing a certain song. Later on that person actually sings it. Such phenomena can take place. What do they mean? You entered a spiritual realm, and there your mind was resonating with everything in that realm. Your mind was like a tuning fork, resonating with the vibrations of the cosmos. If you have such an experience, treasure it as precious…
Where does God appear to us? Not in the sky, but in the [original] mind. For this reason, we know that our self and our original mind are two different entities.15 If you do not feel it, it is because your original mind has not fully established its existence. Being often dragged about by the body, it cannot stand. Therefore, once your mind is established in its existence and subjectivity, things will change.
Once you reach a higher state, during prayer you can communicate with your original mind. Your prayer will resonate with your mind, and you will hear yourself in your mind. At this stage you will receive messages or warnings about events in your daily life. Religious people should keep a record of these experiences.
Whenever you relate with someone, do not be careless or indifferent. Think, “What can this person teach me?” Have a hungry mind, eager to learn something new from him or her. Also, you should discern right away whether to relate to him or her as your subject partner or as your object partner… Then your mind will be happy and will be automatically attracted to that person.
This is due to the influence of mind waves. Do you believe that every mind emits mind waves? When you meet a butcher, don’t you smell meat? When you meet a fabric merchant, don’t you smell fabric? Just as you can smell a person’s unique body odor, you can also smell the mind’s odor. Such phenomena happen.
In our body, we have a special sense which strives to reach out to everything. It sends out invisible energy waves to locate its object partners. It is true. Even if our mind wants to go its own way, it cannot. As the pole of a magnet is attracted to the opposite pole, minus is attracted to plus, and plus is attracted to minus.
Therefore, the attitude of believers should be that all beings are related to us. Why? Due to the Human Fall we lost all relationships—with God, among human beings and with nature, all were entirely severed. In order for us to reconnect our relationships, we should always strive to make these connections ourselves. If we do not have the attitude to make connections with others, we cannot improve the environment in which we live.
For this reason, you should all have a mind to anticipate new things. When praying in the morning, you should feel, “Today, something good will happen.” But do not just think that good things will just happen. You have to seek for them. This attitude of seeking should be your life of faith. Experience and continual practice bring relationships to life. Yet it all stems from cultivating a dream-like state in meditation.17 (76:129-133, February 2, 1975)
Sometimes we hold all-night prayer vigils, focusing on God and leaving all worldly matters aside. We do not sleep, but try to enter a state beyond sleep. As we cultivate the mind and repress our consciousness, remnants of our flesh mind sink down and our spirit rises to the surface like pure water. Then although we are tired, we reach a state beyond sleep—a state where we are half sleeping and half awake. We can hear sounds, but not precisely; we can see things, but not clearly. Dream-like phenomena unfold, and God can instruct us.
We hold prayer vigils to disconnect from carnal desires and unify the spirit. Your spirit will be elevated to the point where God may give you a glimpse of your future. After many of these vigils, you will arrive at a state where in prayer you see visions and hear voices. Your eyes see events both spiritual and earthly; your ears hear sounds both spiritual and earthly. Then you can direct events in the spirit world and on earth. (91:275, February 27, 1977)
At the next level, we can receive oral directions or symbolic visions. Visions require careful analysis. Directions are directly given, but visions require interpretation, and this is where we meet with problems. Heaven often teaches us by words, but sometimes it is through a vision. For example, you have a vision of a beautiful spring-like day; a pair of deer drinks at a stream and then looks far off at the mountains. That vision is a very good sign, and you can expect that something good will happen.
This is not a coincidence. God is working to cultivate the field of your mind. Why so? The field of your mind is not flat like glass. It is rough and uneven. It may appear flat, but look closer and you see that its surface is rough. When the light of Heaven hits a rough surface, it is not reflected, but scatters in all directions. That is why revelations are received and interpreted differently. Therefore, to properly discern Heaven’s guidance, we need to cultivate the various aspects of our mind, piece by piece. This requires our effort.
Beyond the stage of revelations as oral directions or symbolic visions, we arrive at the stage of direct revelations in silence. Like John in the Book of Revelation, you can have spiritual experiences all day long, journeying into the other world and exploring its mysteries. Eventually, everyone is to be connected to the spirit world, reaching the realm of God’s heart and feelings.
Unless you experience such things in your life of faith, you cannot carry out God’s great Will on the stage of your own life. Therefore, I do not trust believers who have not had actual spiritual experiences. Please understand how important it is for you to have these spiritual experiences for cultivating your life of faith…
God works when you pray, sending His spiritual power like electricity. But since this high-voltage energy is stronger than your consciousness, it will lift your consciousness to feel the supernatural.
However, when supernatural and divine emotions come inside you, your body, imbedded with fallen nature, rebels against God’s original divinity. Fallen people do not naturally harmonize with God’s divine energy, no matter how strongly it tries to penetrate. As a result, the energy does not come all at once. Like alternating plus and minus energies, like a spreading sound wave that is sometimes strong and sometimes gentle, the energy comes as a series of vibrations. They overwhelm your conscious mind and display their spiritual power. That is how God performs His work.
When God is working with you all the time like this, what happens? Your body-centered fallen nature is gradually purified, and eventually it will accept God’s indwelling activity naturally and 100 percent. Then, when God ceases sending His spiritual power in this way, your own spirituality will exceed God’s work in you. At that point God will be with you, and He will teach you without your realizing it.
You should reach this level of total purification, after going through all these stages: the dreamlike state, oral directions, revelations, and so on. At this level, your mind will fully direct you. You may want to chastise someone, but your mind will stop you. You may want to say something sweet, but instead you say words of admonishment. Such phenomena can seem incomprehensible. You need to learn how to adjust to them, otherwise, you could be regarded as an insane person.
You must absolutely experience something like this in your life of faith. People who experience these things in their life of faith, always testing and experimenting, will become strong. They have first-hand knowledge and do not need to believe what others tell them. Experience and practice are the most necessary elements in our life of faith. (76:133-136, February 2, 1975)