Man’s Real Nature is Primarily Spiritual Life

Ezekiel 45

15 Finally, they must bring one sheep out of every two hundred from their flocks.

These offerings will be used as grain sacrifices, as well as sacrifices to please me and those to ask my blessing. I, the Lord, will be pleased with these sacrifices and will forgive the sins of my people.

Job 5

26 You will live a long life,
and your body will be strong
    until the day you die.

The Immortal Soul

2. Death: Transition to a New Life

The hour of departure has arrived, and we go
our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is
better God only knows.
It is We who give life, and make to die, and to
Us is the homecoming.
Qur’an 50.43

Socrates, in Plato, Apology 42 (Hellenism)
The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the
spirit returns to God who gave it.
Ecclesiastes 12.7

Now my breath and spirit goes to the Immortal,
and this body ends in ashes;
OM. O Mind! Remember. Remember the
deeds.
Remember the actions.
Isha Upanishad 17 (Hinduism)

Man’s real nature is primarily spiritual life,
which weaves its threads of mind to build a
cocoon of flesh,
encloses its own soul in the cocoon,
and, for the first time, the spirit becomes flesh.
Understand this clearly: The cocoon is not the
silkworm;
in the same way, the physical body is not man
but merely man’s cocoon.
Just as the silkworm will break out of its cocoon
and fly free,
so, too, will man break out of his body-cocoon
and ascend to the spirit world when his time
is come.
Never think that the death of the physical
body is the death of man.
Since man is life, he will never know death.
Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines (Seicho-no-Ie)

One man believes he is the slayer, another
believes he is the slain. Both are ignorant; there
is neither slayer nor slain. You were never born;
you will never die. You have never changed; you
can never change. Unborn, eternal, immutable,
immemorial, you do not die when the body dies.
Realizing that which is indestructible, eternal,
unborn, and unchanging, how can you slay or
cause another to be slain?

As a man abandons his worn-out clothes and
acquires new ones, so when the body is worn
out a new one is acquired by the Self, who lives
within.
The Self cannot be pierced with weapons or
burned with fire; water cannot wet it, nor can
the wind dry it. The Self cannot be pierced or
burned, made wet or dry. It is everlasting and
infinite, standing on the motionless foundation
of eternity. The Self is unmanifest, beyond all
thought, beyond all change. Knowing this, you
should not grieve. 7
Bhagavad-Gita 2.19-25 (Hinduism)

You prefer this life, although the life to come
is better and more enduring. All this is written
in earlier scriptures; the scriptures of Abraham
and Moses.
Qur’an 87.16-19

I inquired of Africanus whether he himself, my
father Paulus, and others whom we look upon as
dead, were really living. “Yes, truly,” replied he,
“they all enjoy life who have escaped from the
chains of the body as from a prison. But as to
what you call life on earth, that is no more than
a form of death. But see, here comes your father
Paulus towards you!”
Cicero, On the Republic 6.14 (Hellenism)

Onyame does not die; I will therefore not die.
Akan Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

Meet the Fathers, meet Yama, and meet with
the
fulfillment of wishes in the highest heaven;
casting off imperfections, find anew thy
dwelling,
and be united with a lustrous body.
Rig Veda 10.14.8 (Hinduism)

Though our outer nature is wasting away, our
inner nature is being renewed every day. For this
slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an
eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
because we look not to the things that are seen
but to the things that are unseen; for the things
that are seen are transient, but the things that
are unseen are eternal.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live
in is destroyed, we have a building from God,
a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. Here indeed we groan, and long to put
on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it
on we may not be found naked. For while we are
still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that
we would be unclothed, but that we would be
further clothed, so that what is mortal may be
swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us
for this very thing is God, who has given us the
Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always of good courage; we know
that while we are at home in the body we are
away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not
by sight. We are of good courage, and we would
rather be away from the body and at home with
the Lord. For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may
receive good or evil, according to what he has
done in the body.
2 Corinthians 4.16-5.10

The Spirit Can Grow Only While It Abides in the Flesh

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 1108

No matter how broad the Christian
cultural realm becomes, a perfected
Adam who can manifest the true love
of God must appear together with the
bride. Thus, you must fulfill your por-
tion of responsibility and enter the realm
of direct dominion. You must prepare a
foundation of true love in your family
that can unite upper and lower, front
and back, and left and right with love at
the center. Is this an easy thing to do?
(220-93, 1991.10.15)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 578

The earth also breathes and moves.
Your cells breathe as well. Do you want
to live eternally on earth or do you want
to live eternally in a place where you
become an invisible entity of love? You
should live eternally in a world where
you become an invisible entity of love.
Even when God wants to reveal Himself,
you cannot see Him with your physical
body. That’s why you need a spirit self.
God is the center of the invisible spir-
it. Therefore, He wants to give human
beings, who are His counterparts, every-
thing from the eternal realm of the ideal
that He created. (111-111, 1981.2.1)

The Immortal Soul

  1. Soul and Body

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Investing all His heart and mind, God formed the human body out of dust as a place where the spirit self, a life manifesting the principle of eternity, can live and grow. No work of art could be greater. God did not make it by saying to the dust, “Arise!” No, God invested all of His heart, mind and energy into forming this body. Then, He completed the human being by blowing a life spirit into it. God created the first man with a special blessing, as a being that could live forever in the corporeal and incorporeal worlds within God’s dominion. But he fell. (8:80, November 8, 1959)

Our spirit self, or spirit, is a substantial yet incorporeal reality, which can be apprehended only through the spiritual senses. It is the subject partner to our physical self. Our spirit can communicate directly with God and is meant to govern the incorporeal world, including the angels. In appearance our spirit self matches our physical self. After we shed the physical self, we enter the spirit world and live there for eternity. The reason we desire an eternal life is because our innermost self is the spirit self which has an eternal nature.

Our spirit self consists of the dual characteristics of spirit mind (subject partner) and spirit body (object partner). The spirit mind is the center of the spirit self, and it is where God dwells.
The spirit grows through give and take action between two types of nourishment: life elements of a yang type that come from God, and vitality elements of a yin type that come from the physical self…
The spirit can grow only while it abides in the flesh. Thus, the relationship between the physical self and the spirit self is similar to that between a tree and its fruit. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 6.3.2)

Human beings consist of a dual structure: a mind-like self and a body-like self. The mind grasps the vertical standard. The body holds a horizontal standard. Consider an ideal person, living by God’s ideal standard and receiving God’s love. When God’s love sounds vertically in the mind or spirit self, it resounds horizontally through the body. The spirit self, with its vertical standard, picks up the vibration of God’s true love and transmits it to the physical self, where it resonates through the
person’s relations with his or her surroundings. (177:216, May 20, 1988)

Our spirit self and physical self should resonate like a tuning fork. When a tuning fork is struck, it makes a nearby tuning fork resonate at the same frequency. By the same principle, once God’s love moves in our spirit, our body automatically responds.
What causes our mind and body to resonate 100 percent and brings them into the realm of oneness? It is not God’s wisdom or power. It is only love. (138:255, January 24, 1986)

Both the body and the mind are composed of cells. Do you know that you have a spirit self, and that it has five spiritual senses? The cells of the inner self and the cells of the outer self resonate with each other.
The spirit self, our inner self that lives for eternity, and the physical self, our outer self that can live on earth only, should resonate with each other in love. When they resonate with God’s love, their spiritual cells and physical cells are linked together in the same vibration. Therefore, as the cells of the eyes vibrate, they can see everything in the spirit world as clearly as the physical world. They can see by virtue of their perfect resonance. (171:103, December 13, 1987)

Spirit or Soul is the Immortal Human Essense

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Ezekiel 6

6 The Lord God said:

Ezekiel, son of man, face the hills of Israel and tell them:

Listen, you mountains and hills, and every valley and gorge! I, the Lord, am about to turn against you and crush all the places where foreign gods are worshiped. Every altar will be smashed, and in front of the idols I will put to death the people who worship them. Dead bodies and bones will be lying around the idols and the altars. Every town in Israel will be destroyed to make sure that each shrine, idol, and altar is smashed—everything the Israelites made will be a pile of ruins.

Psalm 78

56 But the people tested
    God Most High,
    and they refused
    to obey his laws.
57 They were as unfaithful
    as their ancestors,
    and they were as crooked
    as a twisted arrow.
58 God demanded all their love,
    but they made him angry
    by worshiping idols.

The Immortal Soul

Spirit or soul is the immortal human essence. Originating in the eternal God, it returns to God in the end. The body, on the other hand, is made from clay and is but a vestment that clothes the spirit. This is a rather universal conception, widespread in all religions although they differ on the details. The soul may ascend to heaven, descend into hell, merge with the Godhead, sleep until the general resurrection, or transmigrate into
another earthly body: regardless, survival of the spirit is a common thread in all faiths.
These texts include descriptions of a “spiritual body” that clothes the soul in the next life. Others conceive of the spirit as having its own form and structure. Coterminous with the flesh during life, it then separates and ascends to the spirit world after death. Father Moon offers additional insight into how people on earth already live in both worlds, by virtue of the resonance between their spirit and flesh. This speaks to how people with spiritual gifts can perceive the spirit world during earthly life.
The spirit truly finds its wings after death, when it is no longer tied down to the body and can travel freely
at will. Nevertheless, earthly life is important as the training-ground where the qualities of spirit needed for fulfillment in heaven are developed; that is the subject of the next section.

  1. Soul and Body

The body is the sheath of the soul.
Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a (Judaism)

Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust
of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living being.
Genesis 2.7

And He originated the creation of man out of
clay,
then He fashioned his progeny of an extraction
of mean water,
then He shaped him, and breathed His spirit in
him.
Qur’an 32.8-9

The soul is characterized by knowledge and
vision, is formless, an agent, has the same extent
as its own body, is the enjoyer of the fruits of kar-
mas, and exists in samsara. It is also enlightened
and has a characteristic upward motion.
Nemichandra, Dravyasangraha 2 (Jainism)

Ts’ai-wu said, “I have heard the names kuei and
shen, but I do not know what they mean.” The
Master said, “The [intelligent] spirit is of the shen
nature, and shows that in fullest measure; the
animal soul is of the kuei nature, and shows that
in fullest measure. It is the union of kuei and shen
that forms the highest exhibition of doctrine.
“All the living must die, and dying, return
to the ground; this is what is called kuei. The
bones and flesh molder below, and, hidden
away, become the earth of the fields. But the
spirit issues forth, and is displayed on high in
a condition of glorious brightness. The vapors
and odors which produce a feeling of sadness,
and arise from the decay of their substance,
are the subtle essences of all things, and also a
manifestation of the shen nature.”
Book of Ritual 21.2.1 (Confucianism)

Someone will ask, “How are the dead raised?
With what kind of body do they come?” You
foolish man! What you sow does not come to
life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the
body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps
of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it
a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of
seed its own body. For not all flesh is alike, but
there is one kind for men, another for animals,
another for birds, and another for fish. There
are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bod-
ies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the
glory of the terrestrial is another.
1 Corinthians 15.35-40

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 1755

When you actually stop to think
about it, you thought that treasures were
stored up there in heaven. But it turns
out that you had treasures all along in
your bodies. You came to understand
that the original palace is a part of your
body. Aren’t the love organs the original
palace that can attend God? Where is the
pathway that makes the love connection?
Is it in the fingertips? Where is it? What
is it in a man? What is it in a woman?
It is the male and female organs, where
the most distasteful substance can also
be found. Where does urine come out?
From the sexual organ. This is the case
for both women and men. If that unclean
urine thus excreted were to mingle with
love, would it still be unclean or would
it become clean? Then how wonderful
would it be to drink urine steeped in
true love like iced tea! (178-125, 1988.6.1)

Cheong Seong Gyeong 428

Individual perfection results from
the continuous give and take action
between the mind and the body, based
on the foundation of love established by
God at the beginning. Both the mind and
the body should grow, mature, and then
unite completely. Perfection can only
be achieved when one’s life is rooted in
love, when it matures centering on love,
and when that love puts out buds and
bears fruit on that foundation. When
the foundation of love is established in
this way, God can then come and reside
there, connected through love. Until love
fully matures, the foundation to bear its
fruits cannot be established.

LIFE AFTER DEATH AND THE SPIRIT WORLD

The Spirit World

2. The Many Levels and Realms in the Spirit World

The entire spirit world appears as one person. When this gigantic Person becomes one with God as its Subject partner, then the entire spirit world and physical world will melt together. When God jumps, the earth will jump. When God laughs, the earth will laugh… The spirit world is structured and functions as one person. Saints take the role of eyes and ears. (91:280, February 27, 1977)

In the spirit world, everything is linked centering on God. Although people have different ranks and inhabit different regions, they all know that they should follow God and make Him their center. Even spirits in the lower realms have an alignment toward God, reflected in their life goals like a concept of faith. (161:220, February 15, 1987)

Just as people in earthly society have different ranks, there are also different ranks in the spirit world. You do not know much about spirit world now, but when you understand its geography, you will rec-ognize that it contains thousands of different levels. (91:269-70, February 27, 1977)

In the spirit world, there is an abundance of flowers wherever you go. Amazingly, the flowers are laughing and dancing. Yet they receive human beings depending upon the level of their perfection: laughing and dancing, or dancing but not making any sound, or standing still, etc. On seeing them, you will finally realize: “Ah, I wish I would have understood the Father’s love and practiced it!” Yet by then it would be too late. That is why I am training you and educating you to pass the tests on earth, to help you be tuned to the right frequency of love. (227:100, February 10, 1992)

The spirit world is still incomplete. Its hierarchical system was originally supposed to be centered on God, the True Parents and true children. Everyone was supposed to have a position in this hierarchy, but it is not realized yet; neither is it the case on earth. The hierarchy must be established on earth first. If the conditions on earth are met, then the spirit world will automatically follow…So far, the spirit world has been organized hierarchically into the Buddhists Club, the Confucians Club, the Muslims Club, the Christians Club, etc… Now, as the work of the True Parents on earth proceeds at the worldwide level, the boundaries between all the religions are disappearing. The movement for unification will progress on earth, along with similar activities in the spirit world. (161:223, February 15, 1987)

Barriers divide the spirit world. There are no nations like Korea, Japan and America; however, there are different realms based on the different religions. Those who practiced Buddhism [on earth] dwell in the Buddhist realm. Those who practiced Confucianism dwell in the Confucian realm. Those who believed in Jesus live in the Christian realm. Those who followed Islam enter the Muslim realm, and so forth. With the passage of time, the people of each group built up their respective realms and surrounded themselves with walls. These walls, products of the Fall, stand firm until the day of Christ’s return, when he comes to break them down. (89:101, October 4, 1976)

In My Father’s House There Are Many Rooms


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Leviticus 23

23 And the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Say to the people of Israel, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no laborious work; and you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.”

2 Kings 3

21 When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out, and were drawn up at the frontier. 22 And when they rose early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. 23 And they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together, and slain one another. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!” 24 But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and attacked the Moabites, till they fled before them; and they went forward, slaughtering the Moabites as they went.[b]25 And they overthrew the cities, and on every good piece of land every man threw a stone, until it was covered; they stopped every spring of water, and felled all the good trees; till only its stones were left in Kir-har′eseth, and the slingers surrounded and conquered it. 

LIFE AFTER DEATH AND THE SPIRIT WORLD

The Spirit World

2. The Many Levels and Realms in the Spirit World

In my Father’s house are many rooms.
John 14.2

Of the nether worlds and heavens has He
created millions;
Men exhaust themselves trying to explore
them.
Adi Granth, Japuji 22, M.1, p. 5 (Sikhism)

There are celestial bodies and there are terres-
trial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one,
and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There
is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the
moon, and another glory of the stars; for star dif-
fers from star in glory. 2
1 Corinthians 15.40-41

The church of the Firstborn… are they into
whose hands the Father has given all things—
they are they who are priests and kings, who
have received of His fullness, and of His glory;
and are priests of the Most High, after the order
of Melchizedek, which was after the order of the
Only Begotten Son. Wherefore, as it is written,
they are gods, even the sons of God… These are
they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is
that of the sun, even the glory of God, the high-
est of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament
is written of as being typical.
And again, we saw the terrestrial world,
and behold and lo, these are they who are of
the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of
the church of the Firstborn who have received
the fullness of the Father, even as that of the
moon differs from the sun in the firmament.
Behold, these are they who died without law…
who received not the testimony of Jesus in the
flesh, but afterwards received it. These are they
who are honorable men of the earth, who were
blinded by the craftiness of men.
These are they who receive of His glory, but
not of His fullness. These are they who receive of
the presence of the Son, but not of the fullness of
the Father. Wherefore, they are bodies terrestrial,
and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as the
moon differs from the sun…
And again, we saw the glory of the telestial,
which glory is that of the lesser, even as the
glory of the stars differs from that of the glory
of the moon in the firmament. These are they
who received not the gospel of Christ, neither
the testimony of Jesus. These are they who deny
not the Holy Spirit. These are they who are
thrust down to hell. These are they who shall
not be redeemed from the devil until the last
resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the
Lamb, shall have finished his work.
These are they who receive not of His
fullness in the eternal world, but of the Holy Spirit
through the ministration of the terrestrial; and the
terrestrial through the ministration of the celestial.
And also the telestial receive it of the administering
of angels who are appointed to minister for them,
or who are appointed to be ministering spirits for
them; for they shall be heirs of salvation. 3
Doctrine and Covenants 76.54-88 (Latter-day Saints)

When King Solomon “penetrated into the
depths of the nut garden” (Song of Solomon
6.11), he took up a nut shell and studying it, he
saw an analogy in its layers with the spirits that
motivate the sensual desires of humans…
God saw that it was necessary to put into
the world so as to make sure of permanence all
things having, so to speak, a brain surrounded by
numerous membranes. The whole world, upper
and lower, is organized on this principle, from
the primary mystic center to the very outermost
of all the layers. All are coverings, the one to the
other, brain within brain, spirit inside of spirit,
shell within shell.
The primal center is the innermost light,
of a translucence, subtlety, and purity beyond
comprehension. That inner point extends to
become a “palace” which acts as an enclosure for
the center, and is also of a radiance translucent
beyond the power to know it. The “palace”
vestment for the incognizable inner point, while it
is an unknowable radiance in itself, is nevertheless
of a lesser subtility and translucency than the
primal point. The palace extends into a vestment
for itself, the primal light. From then outward, there
is extension upon extension, each constituting a
vesture to the one before, as a membrane to the
brain. Though membrane first, each extension
becomes brain to the next extension.
Likewise does the process go on below; and
after this design, man in the world combines
brain and membrane, spirit and body, all to the
more perfect ordering of the world.
Zohar (Judaism)

All kingdoms have a law given;
And there are many kingdoms; for there
is no space in which there is no kingdom; and
there is no kingdom in which there is no space,
either a greater or a lesser kingdom.
And unto every kingdom is given a law; and
unto every law there are certain bounds also and
conditions.
All beings who abide not in those conditions
are not justified.
For intelligence cleaves unto intelligence;
wisdom receives wisdom; truth embraces truth;
virtue loves virtue; light cleaves unto light;
mercy has compassion on mercy and claims her
own; justice continues its course and claims its
own; judgment goes before the face of Him who
sits upon the throne and governs and executes
all things. 4
Doctrine and Covenants 88.36-40 (Latter-day Saints)