Richard Urban | Daily Inspiration

We Can Experience that Everyone Is Our Brother or Sister

What is the Most Important Problem Facing Society?

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1899

The last fish that I caught was fifteen pounds and thirty inches. It was the biggest among all the salmon we have caught until now. We hung it up, displaying it as the finale. It was so strong that we should have scooped it up using a net. Yet, it was hard to see the fish, due to the faint light of the setting sun. But the fish was brave. It could have escaped from the net, since two-thirds of its body was inside, with its head hanging out-side. If you do something wrong at this moment, the net can be torn. (205-322, 1990.10.1)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1241

The literal meaning of the word “blessing” is “praying for blessings.” If you break down the word chookbok(blessing), chook means to pray or wish for something. When you are praying for blessings, what is it that is most precious? It is none other than the blessing of love. The Unification Church uses the word blessing with this meaning. The blessing of love is the greatest, because the fundamental origin of life begins with man and woman coming together in a holy wedding. It represents the most precious commitment of the universe. When praying for blessing, the best blessing you can ask for is the blessing of love, and so the Unification Church refers to marriage as the Blessing.

Richard: Learn more about the Blessing.

Universal Love

True love is universal. It has no Limits. When we are immersed in the love of God, we can experience that everyone is our brother or sister. Here is a major distinction between absolute, true love and the relative love of fallen people: true love is impartial and universal, while fallen love is partial to kith and kin, to friends and compatriots. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “an individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
Yet is love for humanity enough? Not if we mean only a general sentiment that can be satisfied by acts of charity and political efforts to benefit the downtrodden. The real stage of love is actual relationships. How can we love strangers and people of faraway nations with the same intensity and concreteness as we love members of our own family? Here scripture speaks of extending to strangers the way we treat members of our own family. Father Moon is very clear on this score. To demonstrate universal love that transcends race, he recommends that we give one of our children in marriage to someone of another race. By digesting every difficulty in relating to our in-laws, we become people whose love truly goes beyond the racial barrier.

1. A Heart to Love All People

May good befall all,
May there be peace for all,
May all be fit for perfection, and
May all experience that which is auspicious.
Om, May all be happy.
May all be healthy.
May we all experience what is good and let no
one suffer.
Om, Peace, Peace, Peace!
The Universal Prayer (Hinduism)

He lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of love, and so the second, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around, and everywhere, does he continue to pervade with the heart of love, far-reaching, exalted, beyond measure. Just as a mighty trumpeter makes himself heard—and that without difficulty—in all the four directions; even so of all things that have the shape of life there is not one that he passes by or leaves aside, but regards them all with mind set free, and deep-felt love. Verily this is the way to a state of union with Brahma.

Digha Nikaya 13.76-77, Tevigga Sutta (Buddhism)

A man once asked the Prophet what was the best thing in Islam. He replied, “It is to feed the hungry and to give the greeting of peace both to those one knows and to those one does not know.”

Hadith of Bukhari (Islam)

Of the adage, Only a good man knows how to like people, knows how to dislike them, Confucius said, “He whose heart is in the smallest degree set upon Goodness will dislike no one.”

Analects 4.3-4 (Confucianism)

The sage has no fixed [personal] ideas.
He regards the people’s ideas as his own.
I treat those who are good with goodness,
And I also treat those who are not good with goodness.
Thus goodness is attained.
I am honest with those who are honest,
And I am also honest with those who are dishonest.
Thus honesty is attained.
Tao Te Ching 49 (Taoism)

Love Always Requires Sacrifice

Happy New Year!

What is the Most Important Problem Facing Society?

Cheon Seong Gyeong 803

When you go to the spirit world in the future, you will not be going there with money. You do not go there in the name of the Unification Church either. Even your position as a regional director does not matter. What you should do from now on is to see how many sons and daughters loved by God you can create before you go there.
People can give birth to a limited number of babies. Everyone can do this. What do you have to accomplish in the process of restoration at this time? If you create many sons and daughters whom God can love in the satanic world, this accomplishment connects with your ancestors and opens the way to liberate them. This is the greatest gift you can receive in the course of restoration. Do you understand what I am telling you? It is a gift. (230-25, 1992.4.15)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1188

As viewed from God’s original ideal of creation, the eldest son should come from God’s side and, of course, the second son should also come from God’s side. Due to the Fall, the position of the first son was taken by Satan, and the position of the second son went to God. This has to be made right. Thus, when we consider the story of Esau and Jacob in the Bible, Jacob united with his mother and received her help. He gave Esau the pottage of lentils and bread in exchange for the birthright of the first-born son. Until today, we could not understand why Bible history is the way it is. With the appearance of the Unification Church, its meaning was clarified for the first time. (134-304, 1985.8.16)

Sacrificial Love

2. Enduring Life’s Hardships and Sorrows to Help People in Need

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

To reach the Kingdom of Heaven, you must pass through hell. (Way of God’s Will 1.8)

Love always requires sacrifice, and it also requires overcoming. (46:35, July 18, 1971)

A Man Should Share in the Distress of the Community

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1514

At the time of Creation, God created man and woman with the sexual organs as their emblem. As result, that which controls the sexual organs is connected to all structural elements of the human body. For this reason, a man and woman unite as one in the act of making love and give birth to a child. What would happen during childbirth? Whom would the baby take after? The baby becomes attached to the mother’s nervous system so its own develops in a similar way. Can branches grow if there are no roots? The logic in this cannot be denied.

When a man and a woman become excited during love-making, it is a principle that the mind and body unite into one. That is logical. Then through which organ can love, life and lineage can be connected continually through the generations? It is the sexual organs. What comes first, love or life? In this question lies the problem. Similar to the problems of the world today, which are caused by materialistic philosophy, and the questioning of whether it is the mind or the body that comes first, we also need to ask ourselves: What is more precious, love or life? This is the problem. What comes first? The order of importance must be determined. The answer is that love comes first.

When God first established the ideal of creation, He did not do so centering upon Himself. Instead, it was centered upon love, and that is why He created the world of reciprocal relationships. This is logically correct. (193-145, 1989.10.3)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1212

From the Principle you know about the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. Even if you have established the foundation of substance, that substance is not to be offered to God. It serves as a foundation for the Messiah, that is, a substance that can welcome the Messiah. (43-187, 1971.4.30)

Sacrificial Love

2. Enduring Life’s Hardships and Sorrows to Help People in Need

The believer who participates in human life, exposing himself to its torments and suffering, is worth more than the one who distances himself from its suffering.
Hadith of Ibn Majah (Islam)

One who stays in the shade does not know the sun’s heat.
Igala Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

A man should share in the distress of the community, for so we find that Moses, our teacher, shared in the distress of the community.
Talmud, Taanit 11a (Judaism)

Continue reading “A Man Should Share in the Distress of the Community”

In Loving, the Output is Greater than the Input

Cheon Seong Gyeong 345

Why do we need True Parents? It is because we must take root in the realm of the heart. Now, there is a different root. Through the Fall, all the trunks and branches have become different. Here, a new root started with true parents, and what emerged from that? A trunk and branches grew, and you are being engrafted. You should cut yourself down and become engrafted. After the engrafting, you will become one with the great mainstream of the universe. You must cut off everything from the satanic world, down to the root. (164-155, 1987.5.10)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1420

God and True Parents are weaving history together, and the era of registration will arrive. At that time, you will transfer your name into the new family register. Are you ready? Have you become sons and daughters of God like True Parents have? It is easy to say, but not to fulfill. Whether asleep or awake, you must always keep this in mind. These thoughts must accompany you wherever you go and whatever you do, whether you are eating or sleeping. In order to accomplish this, you need to experience residing in the homeland before passing on to the next world. Since this is the case, should you learn Korean, or not? Originally, human beings did not have many languages. There was only one. (201-234, 1990.4.22)

Sacrificial Love

1. Sacrificing Everything—Even Your Life—for the Sake of Those You Love

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

If I put my life on the line to subjugate evil, then the life-giving love of God will be bestowed upon me. (40:243, February 6, 1971)

A sacrificial spirit—where for the sake of a neighbor you can throw away your life as if it were a worthless piece of straw—is exactly true love. (224:254, December 7, 1991)

Love would not be possible if human beings did not have an original nature to sacrifice. We do not think of it as a sacrifice when we sacrifice for someone we love. We feel it is worthwhile, even as we sacrifice more and more. (63:25, October 1, 1972)

Continue reading “In Loving, the Output is Greater than the Input”

True Love Is Sacrificial Love

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1321

Did you know that during the past two or three years the Unification Church has reached an international level? Are you aware of this? Then how did we attain such a level? By earning a lot of money? By witnessing to many people? It was through the Blessing. When was the 360,000 Couples’ Blessing held? It was in 1995. The 30,000 Couples Blessing? It was in 1992. The 30,000 Couples came in 1992 and the 360,000 Couples in 1995. Next came the Blessing of the 3.6 Million Couples. Who would have believed at the time of the 30,000 Couples Blessing, that at the next one we would bless 360,000 couples? It was the same after the Blessing of the 360,000 Couples. After that Blessing, it took us less than three years to hold the 3.6 Million Couples Blessing. We did it in two and a half years. It wasn’t even that long. When I first issued the instructions to prepare for the Blessing of 3.6 million couples, not one person believed that it would actually happen. I can’t speak for God, but even I was in doubt. Think about it. Is one finger the same as ten, or not? How many hills are there? There are ten hills to climb. During the three years I worked in Jardim, Brazil, I declared the era of the Second Generation in which absolute faith is paramount. Now the time has come in which you have no choice but to believe, even if you don’t want to. (291-152, 1998.3.11)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 963

Now that we have entered the age of liberation, you do not know how much the universe is singing in praise, while focused on this earth. You do not know how joyful they are over this day. From the beginning of this year to this very day, there has been a festive atmosphere.
Now, heavenly fortune will follow us and assist us in everything we try to do. We used to exert ourselves to catch heavenly fortune but now heavenly for-tune will follow us around and assist us. This means that the time has come for God and the spirit world to mobilize numerous ancestors and countless good spirit persons to assist people on earth. We can establish a realm of liberation. The age of transformation has come. (298-228, 1999.1.8)

Sacrificial Love

True love is sacrificial love. It calls forth self-sacrifice in the service of others. Love prompts us to get involved in the knotty problems of the world, gives us the strength to bear with the failings and weaknesses of others, and moves us to help others regardless of the cost. We have the example of Jesus Christ, who out of love, offered his life to redeem sinful humanity. Moses in his time, and Muhammad as well, endured persecution and exile, risking their lives to enlighten and liberate their people—all for the love of God and humanity. Out of Buddhism comes the figure of the bodhisattva, who vows to devote himself to save all beings. He regards his own happiness as incidental to the happiness of others, and would rather not enjoy the fruits of his own spiritual progress before first liberating others. On this topic, Father Moon describes the root of sacrificial love in God, who invested himself endlessly at the creation to make a beautiful home for his children. God, who ever since the fall, has continuously and sorrowfully devoted himself as would a loving parent to rescue prodigal humanity from the pits of sin and grief. Such divine love is manifested every day in the human love of parents, who willingly sacrifice for their children’s future.

1. Sacrificing Everything—Even Your Life—for the Sake of Those You Love

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15.13

The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Matthew 20.28

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.
Ephesians 5.1-2 Continue reading “True Love Is Sacrificial Love”