Richard U. | Daily Inspiration

Endure Over and Over While Being Persecuted

Listen to the Richard Urban Show Installment #31

#57-The Family Rooted in Absolute Sexual Ethics-Part 2 with Andrew Derricutt

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1919

We are now in the era of the Pacific civilization. At the same time, this leads to the space age. All the waters of the world merge with the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The rivers and the waters from the Atlantic Ocean and even water from the Mediterranean Sea all join with the Pacific. There is a flow of water called the Black Current that is about four to five thousand miles long. As it circulates it influences all five of the great oceans of the world.

For this reason, when the era of the Pacific civilization draws near, every-body must become one. Then we can explore outer space. Unless people become one, they would even fight over the ownership of the sun, with everyone claiming that right. They would ask who the master of the starry realm is and they would all claim to be the one. They are bound to fight among each other. Our sun is about 1.3 million times larger than the earth. How could human beings, who don’t even amount to a tiny speck, claim to own this vast entity? The universe would roar with laughter. A unified world is bound to appear in the era of the Pacific civilization. That is why everything must be overhauled. Democracy in America does not work, and neither does communism. That is why the head-wing ideology, known as Godism, must appear in this age. (207-46, 1990.10.28)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1191

Instead of beating His enemy to death God must set the condition of having loved him. In the same way the person standing in the position of Adam has to set up a condition of having loved the enemy Satan. If you endure over and over again while being persecuted, and prevail over all the tears, blood and sweat, until the enemy naturally surrenders to you, and return embracing God’s love, then you can receive the blessing. That is when Satan will let you go. You must receive this public approval; “You can now become a child qualified to go to the heavenly kingdom.” Who must sign this approval? Satan must. After Satan signs this, you will sign it, and then True Parents must sign it. You can only stand before God only after getting this signature from True Parents. That is the heavenly kingdom. (141-202, 1986.2.22)

Individual Responsibility

Responsibility is central to what it means to be human. Other creatures have life, consciousness, and even intelligence, but only human beings are responsible to choose their manner of life and hence their destiny. individual responsibility implies an attitude of self-criticism. We should not blame others for our own difficulties, but rather look for the cause within ourselves.
All the religions of the world emphasize, in one way or another, individual responsibility in matters of faith and practice, although the definition and limits differ. Buddhism and other non-theistic traditions regard the journey on the path to liberation as entirely the responsibility of the individual. each individual is “a lamp unto himself ”; each works out his own salvation alone and by himself. There is explicit rejection of reliance upon a savior from without, as both Buddha and Muhammad rejected characterizations of themselves as saviors.
On the other hand, in the monotheistic faiths, the context of individual responsibility is prevenient grace. As a person works out his own salvation, at the same time God is at work within. Salvation is a gift, yet it is our responsibility to receive it and not reject it. Father Moon characterizes this joint responsibility in numerical terms: 95 percent is God’s responsibility and 5 percent is the human portion. In this view, responsibility ennobles human beings. It means that each of us has a role to play in our own perfection, and even an indispensable-able role in completing God’s work of creation. This responsibility contains the gift of freedom. Several passages explore this teaching in light of the human Fall and divine forbearance in not intervening to prevent it.
Many religions hold that an individual’s destiny is at least partly determined by factors beyond his or her control: God’s predestination, past karma, or the burden of inherited sin. Nevertheless, several texts reject the notion that such conditions impinge in any way on one’s individual responsibility. Arguing against fatalism, they maintain that with every situation comes the opportunity to improve our lot by the exercise of responsibility. Father Moon goes one step further: he teaches that inasmuch as our individual selves are the results of many generations, fulfilling our responsibility benefits not only ourselves but countless ancestors as well.

1. Each Person Is Responsible for His or Her Own Self

O ye who believe! You have charge over your own souls.

Qur’an 5.105

If I am not for myself, who is for me? And when I am for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?

Mishnah, Avot 1.14 (Judaism)

By self do you censure yourself. By self do you examine yourself. Self-guarded and mindful, O bhikkhu, you will live happily.

Self, indeed, is the protector of self. Self, indeed, is one’s refuge. Control, therefore, your own self as a merchant controls a noble steed.

Dhammapada 379-80 (Buddhism)

Whoever works righteousness benefits his own soul; whoever works evil, it is against his own soul: Your Lord is never unjust to His servants.

Qur’an 41.46

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Philippians 2.12

You must be lamps unto yourselves. Rely on yourselves, and do not rely on external help. Hold firm to the truth as a lamp and a refuge, and do not look for refuge to anything besides yourselves. A brother becomes his own lamp and refuge by continually looking on his body, feelings, perceptions, moods, and ideas in such a manner that he conquers the cravings and depressions of ordinary men and is always strenuous, self-possessed, and collected in mind. Whoever among my disciples does this, either now or when I am dead, if he is anxious to learn, will reach the summit.

Digha Nikaya 2.99-100 (Buddhism)

The lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive this day.

Deuteronomy 5.2-3

Oneself, indeed, is one’s savior, for what other savior could there be? With oneself well controlled one obtains a savior difficult to find.

Dhammapada 160 (Buddhism)

“Please, Man of Shakya,” said Dhotaka, “free me from confusion!” “It is not in my practice to free anyone from confusion,” said the Buddha.

“When you have understood the most valuable teachings, then you yourself will cross the ocean.”

Sutta Nipata 1063-64 (Buddhism)

Not by traveling to the end of the world can one accomplish the end of ill. It is in this fathom-long carcass, friend, with its impressions and its ideas that, I declare, lies the world, and the cause of the world, and the cessation of the world, and the course of action that leads to the cessation of the world.

Samyutta Nikaya 1.62 (Buddhism)

[God to Adam]: “Adam, We give you no fixed place to live, no form that is peculiar to you, nor any function that is yours alone. According to your desires and judgment, you will have and possess whatever place to live, whatever form, and whatever functions you yourself choose. All other things have a limited and fixed nature… To you is granted the power of degrading yourself into the lower forms of life, the beasts, and to you is granted the power, contained in your intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine.”

Pico della Mirandola6 (Humanism)

Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.

Erich Fromm(Humanism)

You Will Know Them by Their Fruits

Listen to the Richard Urban Show Installment #30

The Family Rooted in Absolute Sexual Ethics-Part 1 with Stacey Urban

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2028

Until now, religions focused on the goal of individual salvation, but the goal of the Unification Church is to save the tribe. We are striving to save the whole tribe. Instead of dying and saving ourselves, let us live, receive the ticket of universal shared values, and enter Heaven together with our tribes. You should understand that this is the meaning of the Home Church movement. (101-261, 1978.11.1)

Richard: In traditional Christian thought, when you die, you can enter heaven based on your faith in Jesus.
Rev. Moon calls us to work to build the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Through God’s new word of truth and the Blessing you will receive not only spiritual salvation, but physical salvation! Physical salvation means that through the Blessing your children can be born without original sin. Furthermore, as this environment of goodness expands from the family to the tribe and nation, the Kingdom of Heaven will be built on earth. The method through which this is carried out is Home Church, as Rev. Moon says above.
We cannot enter heaven alone, but only with our family and tribe.
Learn more by studying the 10 part series on Absolute Sexual Ethics.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1264

Who are the new parents of humankind? Adam and Eve, who fell in the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, became fallen parents. The new parents coming with the mission of giving rebirth to humankind are the original, parents who have nothing to do with the Fall. They have become one with God’s will and can be approved by God. They are the parents who keep the original, unfallen standard and fulfill God’s will. They multiply children of goodness by forming an ideal family in the embrace of God, centering on His love. They are the parents who have nothing to do with the Fall. (22-269, 1969.5.4)

Richard: The True Parents are Rev. and Mrs. Moon.

Good and Evil

3. Good or Evil Is Seen in a Person’s Way of Life

You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.

Matthew 7.16-20

God enjoins justice, kindness, and charity to one’s kindred, and forbids indecency, abomination, and oppression. He admonishes you so that you may take heed.

Qur’an 16.90

Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.

Galatians 5.19-23

Worthless men live that they may eat and drink, whereas worthy men eat and drink that they may live.

Socrates(Hellenism)

God’s messenger said, “Do you know the thing which most commonly brings people into Paradise? It is fear to God and good character. Do you know what most commonly brings people into hell? It is the two hollow things: the mouth and the private parts.”

Hadith of Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah (Islam)

“All who commit crimes, robbing, stealing, practicing villainy and treachery, and who kill men or violently assault them to take their property, being reckless and fearless of death—these are abhorred by all.”

The king says, “O Feng, such great criminals are greatly abhorred, and how much more detestable are the unfilial and unbrotherly—as the son who does not reverently discharge his duty to his father, but greatly wounds his father’s heart, and the father who can no longer love his son, but hates him; as the younger brother who does not think of the manifest will of Heaven, and refuses to respect his elder brother, and the elder brother who does not think of the toil of their parents in bringing up their children, and is very unfriendly to his junior. If we who are charged with government do not treat parties who proceed to such wickedness as offenders, the laws of our nature given by Heaven to our people will be thrown into great disorder and destroyed.”

Book of History 5.9 (Confucianism)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

People who live self-centered lives cannot produce good seeds. Those who are trying to benefit themselves cannot bear good fruit. Simply speaking, people who want to use others for their benefit are evil. Good people, on the other hand, are willing to take other people’s burdens. (41:91, February 12, 1971)

Good and evil are not determined by your beliefs. They are determined by your daily life. Whether you are destined for heaven and hell is not determined by your worldview, but by your daily life. (40:294-95, February 7, 1971)

Evil acts by using force. Its activity is not the natural way, but goes against nature. That is why it utilizes oppression, fear, intimidation and threats. (60:61, August 6, 1972)

Everything has its beginning and its end. Whether it is good or bad, once it begins, at some point it will reach its end. If it is a good thing, the result may take a long time to bear fruit but its record will remain in history. However, if it is a bad thing, its result will quickly appear. Good keeps step with eternity, while evil keeps step with the moment. A deed that quickly perishes is fascinated with the moment, while the deed that prospers is fascinated with eternity. (18:64, May 21, 1967)

Good is standing for a public purpose, and evil is standing for a personal purpose. By this standard a patriot and a faithful wife are good people. The greater cause they live for, the better they become. Evil is living for a selfish purpose. Since good is searching for something greater, it should at least be centered on the family rather than the individual. That is why a man and woman should marry and establish a family. Next, their family should be recognized and praised by their neighbors. After an individual establishes his family, he should go forth to benefit his tribe, his people, his nation and finally the world. (31:236, June 4, 1970)

Good and Evil Started from Love

View the Richard Urban Show #29:

Video-Why Abstinence Matters – Interview with Kuku Miriam Afanga

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1972

We know that the peninsular nations surrounded by sea are where the important civilizations in history blossomed. Many religious beliefs and ideologies emerged from peninsular nations and guided the spiritual realm of humanity. These include the Greek philosophy that began on the Balkan peninsula; the Christian culture that blossomed in the Italian peninsula; the Hindu culture and philosophy of India; the Islamic culture from the Arabian peninsula; the Buddhist culture that bore fruit in the peninsulas of southeast Asia; the art of navigation from the Iberian peninsula; and the Nordic culture from the Scandinavian peninsula. In this way, we can see that the peninsular nations exerted the greatest influence on the cultural history of the world. (279-208, 1996.8.20

Richard: Florida is a peninsula. Governor Ron DeSantis would be a good presidential candidate for 2024. President Trump would be a great vice presidential candidate.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1084

Did Jesus go through adolescence or not? Did Jesus not also go through adolescence? What kind of adolescence did he have? The one of “thinking of spring” or the one of “the death of spring”? He did not have the kind in which he whistled at girls. He went through adolescence with the character meaning “thinking of spring.” (57-159, 1972.5.31)

Good and Evil

2. Good or Evil Is Determined by the Intention of the Heart

Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man.
Matthew 15.19-20

How can activity be good or wicked? That which is performed with good intention is good; and that which is performed with evil intention is wicked… That which purifies the soul or by which the soul is purified, is merit—producing a happy feeling. That which keeps the soul away from good is demerit—producing an unhappy feeling.
Pujyapada, Sarvarthasiddhi 6.3 (Jainism)

If a person has no wound in his hand, he may carry poison in it. Poison does not affect him, for he has no wound. There is no ill for him who acts without intent to do wrong.
Dhammapada 124 (Buddhism)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Originally good and evil started from one point; that one point is love. (26:282, November 10, 1969)

Analyze yourself: you have a dual structure. The conscience is in the position of good, while the body is in the position of evil. (227:46, February 10, 1992)

Good or evil can come to existence depending on the direction and the way of your mind. The direction and way of your mind will make the distinction between good and evil. (37:116, December 23, 1970)

A nation’s constitution, which is inspired by its highest ideals, is the basis for determining right and wrong, good and evil within a nation. Likewise, as regards our own behavior, we need some basis or standard for distinguishing right from wrong. Think about it. How can someone who is always drunk determine whether his drinking is good or bad? He cannot be his own standard. This is the case for all of us. We find all kinds of justifications for everything we do, whether good or bad. How can we judge rightly?
Today throughout the world people do many evil things and justify them based on their own way of thinking. Hence, the world is in chaos. This state of affairs will continue as long as there is not a clear and accepted standard of good and evil. There should be one standard, and it should be absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging. (March 1, 1981)

What is Mine is Yours and What is Yours is Yours

We did not publish the Rheama’s from Friday! Here they are.

Listen to the Richard Urban Show #27:

Video-God In the Public Square-Interview with Philip Sharp

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1666

You should be able to look at nature with a mind similar to that of God’s. Such should be your mindset. If there is a flood or streaks of lightning, you should not say things like, “Oh, how I hate that!” God is thinking, “Ha ha, heaven and earth are kissing and mak-ing love!” He tells those who say they do not like it, “Ha ha, you good-for-nothing rascals!” (133-28, 1984.7.1)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1744

Great is the love of the first night of marriage. That is first love. This is the moment a woman offers her body, which she has safeguarded all her life, to her man. This is also the case for the man. On that night, a man offers his chaste body one hundred percent to his wom-an. The lives they led before marriage were all in preparation for that night. (250-97, 1993.10.12)

Good and Evil

HOW CAN ONE DISTINGUISH GOOD FROM EVIL? Are there universal indicators behind, within, or consequent upon an action by which one can determine whether it was a good or an evil act? What is the difference between a good person and an evil person? Good and evil may be distinguished outwardly or inwardly. Some passages distinguish good and evil by their root in the self: good deeds are motivated by the conscience while evil deeds satisfy the body’s desires. Other passages distinguish good and evil by the mind’s purpose and intention. Discerning good and evil may be difficult, however, if we cannot fathom the mind’s intention and there is no clear outward indication to go by. The end of an affair may take time to develop. Here there are passages calling for patience until the matter bears fruit, at which time good and evil will be evident.
Father Moon discusses these ways of distinguishing good and evil, but he mainly fixes on an objective standard: goodness is altruistic and seeks to benefit others, while evil is self-centered.

1. Goodness Is Selfless and Altruistic, while Evil Is to Gratify Selfish Desires

Every selfless act, Arjuna, is born from the eternal, infinite Godhead. God is present in every act of service. All life turns on this law, O Arjuna. Whoever violates it, indulging his senses for his own pleasure and ignoring the needs of others, has wasted his life.

Bhagavad-Gita 3.16 (Hinduism)

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (Christianity)

There are among them some who wrong their own souls; some who follow a middle course; and some who are, by Allah’s leave, foremost in good deeds. That is the highest Grace.

Qur’an 35.32

Whosoever seeks, by whatever means, merely the happiness of cyclic existence for personal ends, he is to be understood as a mean person.

Whosoever reverses deeds done from base motives and turns back the happiness of worldly pleasures for the sake of his own liberation, that person is called middling.

Whosoever wishes to eliminate completely the sufferings of others through his own sufferings, that is the excellent person.

Bodhipathapradipa (Buddhism)

Four characters of men:
He who says, “What is mine is mine and what
is yours is yours”—that is the average type:
some say it is the character of Sodom.
He who says, “What is mine is yours and what
is yours is mine” is undisciplined.
He who says, “What is mine is yours and what
is yours is yours” is a saint.
He who says, “What is yours is mine and what
is mine is mine” is wicked.
Mishnah, Avot 5.13 (Judaism)

If you, Rahula, are desirous of doing a deed with the body, you should reflect on that deed of your body, thus: “That deed that I am desirous of doing with the body is a deed of my body that might conduce to the harm of self and that might conduce to the harm of others and that might conduce to the harm of both; this deed of body is unskilled, its yield is anguish, its result is anguish.” If you, Rahula, reflecting thus, should find it so, a deed of body like this, Rahula, is certainly not to be done by you.

Majjhima Nikaya 1.415 (Buddhism)

If, for my own sake, I cause harm to others,
I shall be tormented in hellish realms;
But if for the sake of others I cause harm to
myself,
I shall acquire all that is magnificent.
By holding myself in high esteem
I shall find myself in unpleasant realms, ugly
and stupid;
But should this [attitude] be shifted to others
I shall acquire honors in a joyful realm.
If I employ others for my own purposes
I myself shall experience servitude,
But if I use myself for the sake of others
I shall experience only lordliness.
Shantideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life
8.126-128 (Buddhism)

The gods and the demons, both having the Creator as their origin, were rivals of each other. So the demons, swollen with pride, said, “In what, pray, should we place the oblation?” And they proceeded to place the oblation in their own mouths. The gods then proceeded to place their oblations each in the mouth of one of his fellows. And the Creator gave Himself over to them.

Satapatha Brahmana 5.1.1.1-2 (Hinduism)

It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.

Jeremy Bentham4(Humanism)

I Am the Crossing Point of Good and Evil

Listen tot he Richard Urban Show #27:

Video-God In the Public Square-Interview with Philip Sharp

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2281

It is not God who gives birth to children but the True Parents, and the couple standing in the position of the parents of horizontal true love is the Unification Church’s True Parents. They are the parents with horizontal love standing at a right angle before God, the True Parent with vertical love. Hence, the love of both sets of parents is necessary. On one hand is the Parent, the Creator, and on the other hand are the physical parents created as the objects of God in pursuit of the ideal. With God in the position of the spiritual Parent and the True Parents in the position of the physical parents, human beings were supposed to be born at the center of both vertical and horizontal loves to allow for the fulfillment of this essential aspect of humanity

Cheon Seon Gyeong 446

Parents should be the head of the family and teachers should be the head of the educational institutions which represent society. Parents raise you by giving you milk thereby assisting your physical development as well as helping you emotionally. Then what is school for? It trains you for your future life in society. If the family is the training ground of the emotions, then school is the experimental training ground of society. But society is not where training ends. Where does it end? It ends with the nation. The nation has a president. Why is it that people miss the president and want to be near him? When they have experienced everything, from the family to the society, they go on to the next lev-el. The president is the fruit of the third stage after the formation and growth stages. A seed divides, sends roots down and a shoot up, and then, through circulatory action, growth begins. After such division comes a synthesis when flowers and fruit are produced

Decision

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

“I” am the crossing point of good and evil. (109:268, November 2, 1980)

We live in a world where good and evil confront each other. Good and evil each pulls our divided mind and body. Evil pulls us toward evil, and good pulls us toward good. Human beings stand midway between these two opposing forces; they become good or evil depending on which way they travel from the center line. You are wandering back and forth across this line. (36:55, November 15, 1970)

If the first human ancestors had not fallen but had reached perfection and become one in heart with God, then they would have lived relating only with God. However, due to their Fall, they joined in a kinship of blood with Satan, which compelled them to deal with him as well… they found themselves in the midway position—a position between God and Satan where they were relating with both. As a consequence, all their descendants are also in the midway position…

How does God separate Satan from fallen people who stand in the midway position? Satan relates with them on the basis of his connection with them through lineage. Therefore, until people make a condition through which God can claim them as His own, there is no way God can restore them to the heavenly side. On the other hand, Satan acknowledges that God is the Creator of human beings. Unless Satan finds some condition through which he can attack a fallen person, he also cannot arbitrarily claim him for his side. Therefore, a fallen person will go to God’s side if he makes good conditions and to Satan’s side if he makes evil conditions. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Restoration 1.1)

How do we cross over the dividing line between good and evil? Good abides where we live for others and evil abides where we live centered on ourselves. If we look within, our [original] mind always tries to lead us towards good thought and a good direction. It says, “Serve others. Have an affectionate heart for others. Sacrifice for others. Live for others.” Such is the path of goodness. (65:14, November 13, 1972)

If you act as your body desires, you are connected to hell. On the other hand, if you act as your mind wishes, you are connected to the Kingdom of Heaven. You alone are the dividing line between the Kingdom of Heaven and hell. (214:283, February 3, 1991)

Do you know what spiritual food is? Even when you are hungry, if you have to choose between spiritual food and physical food, you should feel that spiritual food is tastier than physical food. Then you can survive and stand on the side of God. Living your life based on spiritual power should be much more appetizing than the taste of life lived with physical power. (131:211, May 4, 1984)

Looking back at my youth, I remember how serious I was. I was at the point of deciding what to do with the rest of my life. At that crossroad, I knew that I should not let humanistic concerns determine my decision. Instead I concluded that I had to make my decision in accordance with God’s Will. (211:134, December 30, 1990)

If I had not taken this path, surely I would be a powerful and respected man in some secular field. I would be recognized for my intelligence. I have the ability; I could have risen to leadership in my nation. Yet, instead, I chose a life filled with tears and sorrows. Ever since I came to know God, I have shed tears for Him.

Do you think I am not capable of avoiding persecution? Yet I endure and tolerate the persecution because I know God’s situation—He has gone through far greater tribulations than mine. Do you think that when I was a young man I did not have any personal dreams and ambitions? I certainly had great ambition and dreams. But once I decided to go this way I cut them off, and ever since I have never nursed any personal ambition. That is how I could become who I am today. (God’s Will and the World, May 1, 1977)