Cheon Seong Gyeong 325
What should a person leave behind him to be remembered for eternity? The first thing is a legacy of love, and the second is a legacy of true life. You must leave behind your love and your life. Love did not exist before God did; love is there because God exists. That is why, for God, life is first and love is second, but for human beings, love is first and life is second. (105-75, 1979.9.23)
Cheon Seong Gyeon 1598
All true created beings in the world possess ideal love, the love of original nature, centered on God, and so we must become families based on absolute couples, children, siblings and parents. This is the second Jardim declaration. As well as absolute faith, love and obedience, God’s nature includes the qualities of being absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal. Since these are God’s attributes, it naturally follows that He desires His object partners also to possess these four attributes. Moreover, since He wishes for His object partners to be superior to Him, He would look for more absoluteness, more uniqueness, more eternality and more immutability in His object partner.
Subduing the Desires of the Flesh
- Extinguishing the Desires of the Body
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
The true religious life starts from denying all relationships with the body. If you read the scriptures, can you find any guidance about eating good food and leading an easy life? It is impossible to find such guidance. Religion teaches you to serve, sacrifice, be gentle and humble. Therefore religious people pray for the sake of others even at the risk of their lives. The body by itself cannot do this. In this way you can knock down your body.
The mind and body fight when they have the same amount of strength. So you should make effort to weaken your body. When your mind can subdue your weakened body for several months, then even after the body regains its strength it will follow the mind out of habit. When you reach such a level, you will find that your plans turn out well, having support from Heaven. Then it will be difficult to lead the life you led in the past. You will gravitate towards living an upright life according to your conscience. This is the purpose of the religious life. (38:272, January 8, 1971)Religions present teachings on how to conquer the body. They instruct us: Be forceful in restricting your body. Do not give in to what the body wants to do. For this reason, religions direct us not to go to theatres or walk through red-light districts. They command men not to chase after women, and advise women to consider men as thieves and to avoid paying attention to them.
Can you ladies in the Unification Church date? No, you cannot. Can you men date? No, you cannot. Do I use force to keep you from dating? No. Go ahead, try dating if you want to, but you will find you cannot do it. If someone was stopping you by force, you would do it all the more. Go ahead and try it, and fall on your own back.
What should you do with your body? You should subdue it. Seeking for goodness requires you to subjugate your body. That is why I am asking you to twist the neck of your bodily desires. The body likes to be arrogant. It demands that others serve it. Its philosophy is: “Mine is mine, and yours is mine.” (39:193, January 10, 1971)
You young men should cut off your desire to have every attractive woman you see. You should cut off the music you enjoy listening to—everything the world delights in. Religions direct you to strike the body. The highest religions advocate denying the flesh completely. Throughout history, religions have taught asceticism and sacrificial service. Why? There is a reason for it. To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we have to realize heaven in this hellish human world.
Is this world a place of misery or of happiness? It is a world of misery. Can this world of misery and turmoil ever become a world of happiness if everyone keeps on eating, playing, drinking and dancing? No, the world will only become more miserable. Therefore, anyone seeking the world of happiness should go to a place of misery and there make a break-through. The way forward can only be found in a place of misery. If it is not there, then God does not exist. (91:286-87, January 30, 1977)
We strike the body to eliminate Satan’s influence. We strike the body to allow the Holy Spirit to take control. To strike our body is to strike Satan. When we strike Satan, the Holy Spirit can occupy what Satan had previously ruled. (1:126, June 27, 1956)