Author: Richard Urban

Do Not Forget the Works of God, but Keep His Commandments

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

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What is the Core of the Universe?

Cheon Seong Gyeong 698

The principle of heaven and earth is very simple – I realized this after researching and checking all positions, going around even the back alleys of the spirit world. The truth is simple. Two things unite through an absolute force, creating a vacuum for God to enter that place and become the core, like the marrow of a bone. The two pieces of masculine and feminine love are stuck together. This is the core of the universe. The ideal substance of love unites them to become the axis of love. (170-170, 1987.11.15)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1699

When seeking the fundamentals of the universe, we arrive at the concept of subject and object. Even the smallest woman sitting here has power within her, does she not? Would the power in this small woman desire to be the weak power of a small man, or the strong power of a big man? This is the case for the man too; if he were a small man, he would yearn for the power of a big woman. Why is this so? It is to attain a balance. Balance is the issue; you need to be perfectly perpendicular on a horizontal base. That is why the term ideal of reciprocity arises; it is from there that the ideal of reciprocity is derived. (216-9, 1991.3.3)

The Search for Knowledge

Investigate All Sides of a Subject

A gentleman can see a question from all sides without bias. The small man is biased and can see a question only from one side.
    Analects 2.14 (Confucianism)

I am not biased in favor of Mahavira, nor averse to Kapila or other teachers. I am committed to the preaching that is truly rational.

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Do Not Recklessly Make a Move When your Are Given a Vague Teaching

Cheon Seong Gyeong 685

The returning Lord must come as the ancestor of not only the third but also the first and second Israels. Unification Church members must, from a position similar to that of the first Israel at the time of Jesus, overcome their doubt. Then, with a Father’s heart, they should occupy the position of a child inside the Father. The returning Lord must establish order in the spirit world. By doing this, he must begin his work on the foundation where the first Israel was established. Since people in the spirit world cannot form a bond with the True Parents, they must go through this course. The archetypes of the twelve tribes already exist in the spirit world, but Christianity, which had to become the second Israel, lost the center by which it could organize itself into tribes. Thus, the returning Lord must proclaim the ideology of unification and organize his tribes. (10-217, 1960.10.14)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 692

Because you received the precious thing called the Blessing, the door is open for you, but you cannot enter because you are not dressed in formal attire. You must go to the banquet house in formal attire. Can a groomsman go to a wedding in work clothes? Think about it. You have to dress appropriately for the occasion in order to go there and be welcomed into that environment. Otherwise you will be thrown out. People will say to you, “Get lost, blockhead!”

The Search for Knowledge

  1. Comprehend the Truth Not Merely on the Authority of a Teacher,
    but from One’s Own Extensive Study and Research

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

The ultimate purpose of religion can be attained only when one first believes it in one’s heart and then puts it into practice. However, without first understanding, beliefs do not take hold. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Introduction)

Do not recklessly make a move when you are given a vague teaching. Do not make a move unless the direction is established in clear truth. Even if someone propounds a new teaching with great persuasiveness, do not simply believe it. First discuss it with someone who is more Abel-like than you. (3:212, November 1, 1957)

Although you have joined the Unification Church, if it does not answer all your questions, then pack up and leave. (150:110, September 4, 1960)

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The Search for Truth Requires Free Thinking

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2007

We need to create an impetus for one unified language. You read the record of everything True Parents have accomplished, but to read this in translation is a disgrace. It will become your shame in the spirit world. When you go to the spirit world, you might have to pay indemnity for thousands or tens of thousands of years. That is how great a problem this is. Even if the homeland has been restored, people who cannot go over this hill will have no path upon which they can return to their hometown. They will have no certificate of residence that enables them to dwell in their homeland as registered citizens. This is a serious problem. (303-157, 1999.8.17)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1387

    If the True Parents had not come to the earth to teach people the fundamentals, those people will have problems when they pass on to the spirit world. Through this teaching being conveyed to every village and town in the world, the spiritual and physical worlds can be completely united. Thus, the 360,000 Couples Blessing held this year was truly great. At the end of the forty-year course, we were able to achieve, along with the liberation of women through the appearance of the True Mother, the 30,000 Couples Blessing. The reason the number of couples was set at 30,000 was in order to establish a new foundation of the Blessing in the world, based on the True Mother standing on the global level and involving Cain and Abel. That ceremony was the formation stage, and so this latter ceremony, the 360,000 Couples Blessing, can be said to be the growth stage. Through it, God is keeping the world in pace with His providence by focusing everyone’s attention on the problems of the family.
    At the moment, the whole world has become like hell. However much nations may take pride in being advanced, they must bow their heads in shame over the problems of the family. Families have completely broken down to the point that no one can tackle their problems. The situation is so serious that no economic, military, or political power can deal with it. (272-179, 1995.10.5)

The Search for Knowledge

3. Comprehend the Truth Not Merely on the Authority of a Teacher,
but from One’s Own Extensive Study and Research

Do not be misled by reports, or tradition, or hearsay. Be not led by the authority of religious texts, nor by mere logic or inference, nor by considering appearances, nor by the delight in speculative opinions, nor by seeming possibilities, nor by the idea: “This is our teacher.” But when you know for yourselves that certain things are unwholesome and wrong, and bad, then give them up… And when you know for yourselves that certain things are wholesome and good, then accept them and follow them.
    Anguttara Nikaya 1.190-91 (Buddhism)

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It Is a Gift to Know that You Are Inadequate in Many Areas

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1155

If Adam and Eve had been able to fathom God’s inner heart, they could not have possibly fallen. God loved His children as a Parent, but they did not understand the depth of His paren tal heart. Of course Adam and Eve fell while they were still young, but their young age itself was not the cause of the Fall. Rather, they fell because they were lacking in heart. Had they been able to feel, “He is living for me. He can never, ever be separated from me. He is involved in everything related to me,” they would not have committed the Fall. Ultimately Adam and Eve fell because they could not reach unity in heart with God. This dreadful problem occurred because their desires deviated from God’s desires and the direction of their thinking was different from the direction of God’s thinking. (65-173, 1972.11.19

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1191

Without love, you cannot subjugate Satan. Therefore even God has to stand in the position where He can say that He has loved the fallen archangel, so, in order to become a family who can enter the heavenly kingdom, you as the family of God’s sons and daughters, must also set the condition enabling you to say that you have loved Satan. So, go out and fight and subjugate the satanic world with love. You must stand upon the foundation made by such a condition. You must be able to claim, “I did not crush all my enemies, but instead I had them surrender with love and I restored the right of the eldest son.” (141-202, 1986.2.22)

The Search for Knowledge

2. Know Thyself

An unexamined life is not worth living.
    Socrates, in Plato, Apology 38 (Hellenism)
 
He who knows others is wise;
He who knows himself is enlightened.
    Tao Te Ching 33 (Taoism)
 

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