Empathize With God’s Heart

Cheong Seong Gyeong 2090

What is the remaining final destina-
tion? What is the solution? What should
you do to receive such a privilege as
being able to break down all the bound-
aries and offer solutions? You should all
become tribal messiahs. Once that is
done, there will be no condition for fur-
ther accusation from Satan on the indi-
vidual, family, tribal, ethnic, national,
and worldwide level. (189-110, 1989.3.19)

You should change your entire
neighborhood, centering on God’s will,
with the new experience and training
that you have received in foreign lands.
You must not follow the old habits of
your neighborhood. You must invest
yourselves as God invested Himself in
creating his object of love out of noth-
ing. These two, subject and object part-
ners, must unite as one.
The spirit world will cooperate when
you get to the highest position among
all the people of your hometown. Wait
and see whether this is the truth or not.
And you must make and use many vid-
eotapes for witnessing. (179-27, 1988.6.15)

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1367

You are branches originating from
one root. Branches grow from the trunk,
anchored by the roots. Do you think they
can grow by themselves? Think about it.
Likewise, you cannot effectively oper-
ate based on your own limited concepts.
Thus, you can only expand on the foun-
dation of the tradition rooted in the True
Parents’ family. As such, after the Bless-
ings of the 36, 72, 124, and 430 Couples,
I then blessed the 777, 1800, and 6000
Couples as the representatives of the
conditional offering for global expan-
sion. (145-15, 1986.4.30)

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

The Purpose of Human Life

The Temple of God

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

A human being is a temple of God, and inside that temple dwells a mind which is a microcosm of the infinite God. (107:172, April 27, 1980)

First Corinthians 3:16 says: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” If you enter into a deep mystical state, you will recognize this to be true. If you ask, “Heavenly Father, where are you?” God will answer you from the original root of your mind. (362:190, December 12, 2001)

As written in I Corinthians 3:16, Adam and Eve were created as the dwelling place of God, as holy temples. What of God was to dwell within them? God’s love was to dwell within those holy temples. As God’s temples [had they not fallen], Adam and Eve would be God’s body. When they loved each other, it would be God loving through them as His body. This is the secret of the universe. (161:44, January 1, 1987)

Had there been no Fall, God would be dwelling in our hearts and we would be His temples… Our faces would express God’s pure joy. We would see things with God’s eyes and for God’s sake; we would listen with God’s ears and for God’s sake; we would feel with God’s touch for God’s sake; we would speak on God’s behalf, and so on. Everything we did and thought would be an expression of the living God inside us. (95:247, December 4, 1977)

Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, God has been hoping to find men and women who could empathize with God’s heart, be united in God’s heart, and be the temples in which God can dwell. (3:298, January 26, 1958) Jesus’ mind and body were not simply his own. His mind was the mind of God. His body was not his, but God’s. Also, Jesus’ words were not his own, but were the law of Heaven, representing God’s Will and the hope of all humankind. Jesus came to this earth as God’s substantial temple, as the divine Word, and as the representative who could sit on God’s throne. (3:264, January 12, 1958)

The relationship between God and a person who has attained individual perfection can be compared to that between the mind and the body. The body is the dwelling place of the mind and moves according to the mind’s direction. Likewise, God abides within the mind of a fully mature person. Such a person becomes a temple of God and leads his life in harmony with His Will. A perfect individual is fully attuned to God, just as the body resonates with the mind. For this reason it is written, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (I Cor. 3.16) and “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” (John 14.20) A person who has perfected his individual character becomes a temple of God, and the Holy Spirit abides within him. Living in oneness with God, he acquires a divine nature. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Eschatology 1.1.1)

When you go to bed and your head is snuggled into the pillow, have you ever thought, “Ah, I am sleeping with God”? Have you ever thought, “I feel so good that God is sleeping next to me”? And then in the morning as you wake up and get out of bed, do you say to yourself, “Wake up, God! Oh, You are already awake. Good morning, Father”? You should live with the feeling that when you wake up, God is already awake, ready to greet you. (92:153, April 1, 1977)

Each human being can contain the entire universe. Therefore, prepare a space within yourself where God can come and take a nap, comfortably stretching His legs. Become a person within whom God can feel completely free. Though he kicks and stretches, he feels no walls or obstructions. If you are like that, you can be God’s temple. Knowing this, you should love yourself and respect yourself as the temple of God that you are. (125:101, March 13, 1983)

A human being has a body and a definite shape, while the invisible God has no shape or body. However, without having a body, God cannot reign over the spiritual and physical worlds. God also needs a substantial body in order to manifest as the Parent of humankind. God created Adam and Eve to manifest Himself through these substantial beings. Thus, unfallen Adam and Eve were not only to be the progenitors of the human race; they were also to be God’s substantial body through which He could reign over heaven and earth. They were responsible to exercise dominion over the world on behalf of God in the position of parents. (133:91- 92, July 10, 1984)

God has no shape or form. Even in the spirit world, you cannot see God. The reason why God created Adam centering on love is because this created world around us has form. [Through Adam], God was to become a Father with a form. As a result of God becoming a Father possessing form, that which is invisible and that which is visible are united into one. This, in turn, symbolizes the unity of the universe. Thus, God created Adam and Eve so that He could take on form. So, what is the decisive element in His taking on form? This can only be love. Adam and Eve came into the world with an appearance such that they could have a form resembling God’s external aspect. In that case, the features of Adam and Eve would have been elevated to the palace and the throne of the Kingdom of Heaven. God would have then dwelled within the hearts of this king and queen, and from there He would have ruled over the physical world and the invisible world. This would have created God’s Kingdom—a kingdom of love. Only love can bring spirit and flesh together. Nothing else will suffice. (143:93-94, March 16, 1986)

Do You Not Know that You Are God’s Temple?

Today is the last day to register for the Urban Life Training Chapter Workshop, online or in-person on July 3rd 2020. Learn materials that teach about the physical, intellectual, emotional and long term benefits of sexual abstinence before marriage. Learn about setting up a Chapter of Urban Life Training to teach this material to middle and high school youth: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/109-training/351-urban-life-training-chapter-workshop .

Romans 4

9 Are these blessings meant for circumcised people or for those who are not circumcised? Well, the Scriptures say that God accepted Abraham because Abraham had faith in him. 10 But when did this happen? Was it before or after Abraham was circumcised? Of course, it was before.

Richard: What is the universal religion in this new age? On the external level, it is the teaching of sexual abstinence and purity before marriage, and absolute fidelity and faithfulness within marriage. This is what we will be teaching about in the Urban Life Training Chapter Workshop.
Internally, the universal religion is the teachings of the Eight Sacred Textbooks and the Blessing of Marriage taught by Rev. Sun Myung Moon as the True Parent.

Isaiah 41

3 He goes after them so quickly
that his feet
    barely touch the ground—
he doesn’t even get hurt.

4 Who makes these things happen?
Who controls human events?
    I do! I am the Lord.
I was there at the beginning;
    I will be there at the end.
5 Islands and foreign nations
saw what I did
and trembled
    as they came near.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

The Purpose of Human Life

The Temple of God

Human beings are meant to be the living temples of God. At the creation of man God injected a special element of His Spirit that endows the human mind with divine qualities, such as love, creativity, and the desire for the eternal. God wants to make His home in human beings. With the Spirit of God resonating with the mind, the body sees, hears and acts as God would see, hear and act. By thus acting on behalf of the formless and invisible God, human beings are sanctified, and through them God is able to sanctify others.
In Hinduism and other eastern faiths, this indwelling presence of Ultimate Reality is called the Self or Atman. However, most people live in ignorance of the Self, and they live entirely from egoistic motives. To misconstrue the personal ego as the Holy Spirit would be a serious error and even a mark of insanity. For Father Moon, we are like temples that suffered desecration due to the tragedy of the human fall. God’s Spirit cannot dwell in fallen people. Originally, Adam and Eve were to become temples of God and act as God’s earthly body to beautify this world and transform it into a Garden of Eden. Jesus came as God’s temple; therefore he could reveal God in his person. Through God’s grace and human efforts at restoration, we too can attain the position of God’s temples.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and
that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 3.16

Let a man always consider himself as if the Holy
One dwells within him.
Talmud, Ta’anit 11b (Judaism)

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer
I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 3
Galatians 2.20

Heaven and earth contain Me not, but the heart
of my faithful servant contains Me.
Hadith of Suhrawardi (Islam)

Just as God fills the whole world, so the soul fills
the body. Just as God sees but is not seen, so the
soul sees but is not itself seen. Just as God feeds
the whole world, so the soul feeds the whole
body. Just as God is pure, so the soul is pure.
Just as God dwells in the innermost precincts
[of the Temple], so also the soul dwells in the
innermost part of the body.
Talmud, Berakot 10a (Judaism)

When I love him, I am his hearing by which he
hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand by which
he strikes, and his foot with which he walks.
40 Hadith of an-Nawawi 38 (Islam)

I have breathed into man of My spirit.
Qur’an 15.29

The l ord God formed man of dust from the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living being.
Genesis 2.7

Smaller than the smallest, greater than the great-
est, this Self forever dwells within the hearts of
all. When a man is free from desire, his mind
and senses purified, he beholds the glory of the
Self and is without sorrow.
Though seated, he travels far; though at rest, he
moves all things. Who but the purest of the pure
can realize this Effulgent Being, who is joy and
who is beyond joy.
Formless is he, though inhabiting form. In the midst
of the fleeting he abides forever. All-pervading
and supreme is the Self. The wise man, knowing
him in his true nature, transcends all grief.
Katha Upanishad 1.2.20-22 (Hinduism)

Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart.
Everything that moves, breathes, opens, and
closes
lives in the Self. He is the source of love
and may be known through love but not
through thought.
He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!
The shining Self dwells hidden in the heart.
Everything in the cosmos, great and small,
lives in the Self. He is the source of life,
truth beyond the transience of this world.
He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!
Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.1-2 (Hinduism)

The rich build temples to Shiva,
What shall I, a poor man, do?
O my Lord! my legs are the pillars,
My torso, the shrine,
And my head, the golden pinnacle!
Things standing shall fall,
But the moving ever shall stay! 4
Basavanna, Vacana 820 (Hinduism)

Abdullah bin Omar saw the Messenger (PBUH)
walking around the Ka’ba saying, “How blessed
you are, O Ka’ba, and your fragrant wind. How
great, how great is your sacredness! By Allah,
owner of my soul, to Allah the sacredness of a
believer has greater holiness than you.”
Sunnan Ibn Majah 5 2.3932 (Islam)

Man was also in the beginning with God.
Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not cre-
ated or made, neither indeed can be. All truth
is independent in that sphere in which God has
placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also;
otherwise there is no existence.
Behold, here is the agency of man, and here
is the condemnation of man; because that which
was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto
them, and they receive not the light. And every
man whose spirit receives not the light is under
condemnation.
For man is spirit. The elements are eternal,
and spirit and element, inseparably connected,
receive a fullness of joy; and when separated,
man cannot receive a fullness of joy. The
elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man
is the tabernacle of God, even temples; and
whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy
that temple. 6
Doctrine and Covenants 93.29-35
(Latter-day Saints)

Only When a Man and a Woman Become One Do They Resemble God

Just two days until the Urban Life Training Chapter Workshop, online or in-person on July 3rd 2020. Learn materials that teach about the physical, intellectual, emotional and long term benefits of sexual abstinence before marriage. Learn about setting up a Chapter of Urban Life Training to teach this material to middle and high school youth: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/109-training/351-urban-life-training-chapter-workshop .

Cheon Seong Gyeong 391

When is the most beautiful time, the
time of youth when the flower is in full
bloom? It is young adulthood. This peri-
od is the seven years from age eighteen
to twenty-four. This seven year period is
a time never to be repeated in your life,
a time when the beautiful flower of your
love will blossom. How precious is this
beautiful time that will come only once
in your life. You know peonies, don’t
you? Their buds are wrapped tightly
in dozens of layers so they cannot be
opened up easily. The same is true for
men and women. Then when should you
fully reveal the crimson bud of your love
that blossoms like a yellow flower? The
time when beauty is best revealed with-
in the harmony of heaven and earth is
the time of youth. For human beings, it
is a time when the blossoms are at their
peak. Youth is a time when you shine as
the central pinnacle of God’s great work
of art. It is at this time that you should
be in full bloom under God’s blessings.
(26-151, 1969.10.25)

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1410

Of the 36 Couples, the Adam couples
were already married couples, the Noah
couples were engaged but not married,
and the Jacob couples were virgin men
and women. Noah’s family did not fulfill
the Will. When you look at the people
in the world today you see that there are
already married couples, those who are
in informal relationships or are engaged,
and the completely pure single men and
women. From this time on, the foremost
kind of people that True Parents should
be seeking for are not the Adam couples
but the true sons and daughters, in oth-
er words, pure single men and women.
(242-104, 1993.1.1)

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

The Purpose of Human Life

The Image of God

2. God’s Image More Completely Reflected in the Family

So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him, male and female
he created them.
Genesis 1.27

I am He, you are She;
I am Song, you are Verse,
I am Heaven, you are Earth.
We two shall here together dwell,
becoming parents of children.
Atharva Veda 14.2.71 (Hinduism)

The gospel of Love… presents the unity of male
and female as no longer two wedded individu-
als, but as two individual natures in one; and
this compounded spiritual individuality reflects
God as Father-Mother, not as a corporeal being.
In this divinely united spiritual consciousness,
there is no impediment to eternal bliss—to the
perfectibility of God’s creation.
Science and Health, 576 (Christian Science)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

It is only when a man and woman become one that they come to resemble God, who created us male and female in His image. (135:122)

In human beings, God’s internal nature and external form are manifested separately as man and woman. When the time is ripe, they are to become a father and a mother, Parents of Heaven and Earth. Then, God dwells in their bones. (341:239, January 2, 2001)

God is the harmonious union of the dual characteristics of masculinity and femininity. Creation occurs by the principle that God’s internal nature divides into two separate characteristics, which then re-unite in a form that resembles God’s original internal nature. Man and woman are born each resembling one of God’s characteristics. That is, the union of God’s son and God’s daughter is the union of God’s masculinity and God’s femininity. In their harmonious union they resemble God. For this reason, husband and wife are a unified body that represents God in His entirety. (9:83, April 16, 1960)

Even secular people wish that their loved ones would live forever. They want to go through life with one partner only, and would dislike it if he or she were to change. If even fallen human beings want their beloved partners to be eternal, unchanging, absolute, and unique, how much more so would God, who is the Center of the universe? There is no possibility that God would want His beloved partners, human beings, to be changeable. Nor would God want His object partners to be limited in any way. Instead, God wants us to be absolute. God wants us to be unchanging. (77:185, April 6, 1975)

What is God’s purpose in creating human beings? He did not create them just to watch them go about their daily lives. He did not create them to just grow old and die. God created human beings to have us build a God-centered haven of love. We are created to grow to maturity in love, communicate with each other through heart, and then build God’s Kingdom on earth. Adam, the male, represents heaven, and Eve, the female, represents earth. Therefore, when the two become one horizontally in God’s love, they bring unity to the entire cosmos, heaven and earth. (21:44-45, September 1, 1968)

Since we human beings resemble God, by the power of God’s omniscient and almighty love we can do anything. Just as God created Adam and Eve, we human beings receive the power to create when we give birth to sons and daughters. (57:111, May 29, 1972)

The Father Resembles Us

Register now for the Urban Life Training Chapter Workshop, online or in-person on July 3rd 2020. Learn materials that teach about the physical, intellectual, emotional and long term benefits of sexual abstinence before marriage. Learn about setting up a Chapter of Urban Life Training to teach this material to middle and high school youth: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/109-training/351-urban-life-training-chapter-workshop .

I John

4 Dear friends, don’t believe everyone who claims to have the Spirit of God. Test them all to find out if they really do come from God. Many false prophets have already gone out into the world, 2 and you can know which ones come from God. His Spirit says that Jesus Christ had a truly human body. 3 But when someone doesn’t say this about Jesus, you know that person has a spirit that doesn’t come from God and is the enemy of Christ. You knew that this enemy was coming into the world and now is already here.

4 Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God’s Spirit[a] is in you and is more powerful than the one that is in the world. 5 These enemies belong to this world, and the world listens to them, because they speak its language. 6 We belong to God, and everyone who knows God will listen to us. But the people who don’t know God won’t listen to us. That is how we can tell the Spirit that speaks the truth from the one that tells lies.

Job 16

16 Job said:

2 I have often heard this,
    and it offers no comfort.
3 So why don’t you keep quiet?
    What’s bothering you?
4 If I were in your place,
it would be easy to criticize
    or to give advice.
5 But I would offer hope
    and comfort instead.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

The Purpose of Human Life

The Image of God

1. How Human Beings Resemble God

God made us in His image, like Himself. That means the Father resembles us just as we resemble the Father. So when someone asks you, “What kind of being is God?” you can answer, “He is someone like me.” This answer will hit the mark. (127:233)

God created all creatures to take after His image, and among them He particularly created human beings to represent His character and be co-creators.
Human beings should have the same attributes of feeling and thinking as God does. If God rejoices, human beings should rejoice with Him, and if God grieves, human beings should grieve with Him. Unless people are able to experience the same feelings as God, no matter how much God loves them they cannot attain a state of harmony and oneness with Him.
In sum, God necessarily had to create object partners to share His love. Hence, God created human beings with the capacity to rejoice with God and experience His love. Again, God created human beings with the same value as the Absolute Being, that they might stand as His object partners. (39:9, January 9, 1971)

People are fond of things that resemble them. Whom does the world resemble? In the future, whom should the ideal world resemble? It must resemble God. It says in Genesis 1:27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Indeed, God created men and women in His image. We like things that resemble us, and we can surmise that God likes us because we resemble Him. God created all creatures in heaven and on earth, and He is pleased when they resemble Him. (26:167, October 25, 1969)

Since we are created to resemble God, we want to make ourselves like Him. God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, so what must we be like in order to resemble God? As God is eternal, we also must be eternal. As God is omnipresent, we also must be omnipresent. That is why we want to live anywhere in the world. We want to be omniscient and omnipotent to embrace the entire world at once…
In what respect would God most like us to resemble Him? More than omnipresence, more than omniscience and omnipotence, more than uniqueness, He most wants us to resemble Him in love. The day when we come to resemble Him in love, we can lose everything and still it will follow us wherever we go. A woman can be so ugly as to be not worth a penny, but if she has love a young man as handsome as a stallion will pursue her. (26:167, October 25, 1969)

A true person is one who resembles God. To establish a world abounding in true people, what we need is not a political revolution but a “revolution of character.” A revolution of character is the revolution that transforms us into true human beings who resemble God’s character. It uplifts people’s character to the standard of God’s character. (149:271, November 28, 1986)

God is the most public-minded being, whereas Satan is the most self-centered being, private and selfish to his bone marrow. Thus, God’s formula to restore human beings aims for us to become Godlike. This means that we must sacrifice what is personal and uphold what is public. Each of us must embody the spirit of altruism and service to others.
A selfless and public-minded person will prosper because he or she is the image of God. The selfish, self-centered person will decline because he is the opposite of God, in the image of the betrayer. This is a law of Heaven. (88:209, September 18, 1976)

Man Is Made In the Image and Likeness of God

The Richard Urban Show: A True Movement of Peace Starts with God-Centered Families

Register now for the Urban Life Training Chapter Workshop, online or in-person on July 3rd 2020. Learn materials that teach about the physical, intellectual, emotional and long term benefits of sexual abstinence before marriage. Learn about setting up a Chapter of Urban Life Training to teach this material to middle and high school youth: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/109-training/351-urban-life-training-chapter-workshop .

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2084

We want the unification of North
and South Korea right now, but what is
the solution to the division? North and
South Korea cannot be united unless a
clearly defined solution is provided. It
cannot happen by either the North or
the South simply saying, “You have to
do as we say.” They cannot be unified if
both have something to lose. It’s possible
only when there’s a plus for both. Isn’t
that so? For example, a man and woman
cannot be one after marriage if they are
both minuses to each other; they must
find something that they can gain from
each other. (61-73, 1972.8.27)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1877

What would happen if the sky, ocean,
plants, and everything else were blue?
You would suffocate. Imagine if they
were yellow or your favorite color. You
would immediately tire of it. Even if you
replace it with another color, you would
soon tire of it. Green is another color of
consolation. Why do people like the col-
or green? The existing world is in har-
mony with the color green. That is why
there are many colors in the soil. The col-
or of soil is usually close to green. That
is why it is logical to say that we, who
were made out of the soil, would like the
color green. That is how you may think.
Since God knew that, He made the sky
and ocean blue. Everything was created
in harmony with the color green, cen-
tering on human beings. How wonder-
ful this is! (119-168, 1982.7.18)

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

The Purpose of Human Life

The Image of God

How can we describe a human being’s likeness to the divine? This and the following sections explore this topic from three aspects: Human beings are created in God’s image; we are vessels for God’s indwelling Spirit; and we are God’s beloved children.
Jewish and Christian scriptures teach that man was created in the image and likeness of God. The image of God speaks to the ideal of holiness, truthfulness, righteousness, and charity. The saint or self-realized person is like heaven, manifesting the character of God. To reach this ideal requires a transformation of the inner man, or as Father Moon puts it, a “revolution of character.”
Father Moon’s teaching seeks to get at some of the ways that human beings resemble God. He examines God’s attributes: omnipotence, omniscience, absoluteness, eternity, etc. and explains that human beings strive for these same qualities. Moreover, possessing these qualities is our heavenly birthright.
Furthermore, the scriptures affirm that men and women are equally in the image of God. Since God created human beings to be nothing less than His counterparts with whom to share His complete love, human beings should resemble God to the fullest extent. Thus, had human beings not been marred by the Fall, we could attain the fullest manifestation of God’s image as a man and woman in the union of marriage.

  1. How Human Beings Resemble God

God said, “Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness.” 1
Genesis 1.26

O Son of Man! Veiled in My immemorial being
and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew
My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have
engraved on thee Mine image, and revealed to
thee My beauty.
Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, Arabic 3
(Baha’i Faith)

Rabbi Akiba said: Beloved is man, for he was
created in the image of God. But it was by a spe-
cial love that it was made known to him that he
was created in the image of God; as it is taught,
“For in the image of God made He man.” (Gen.
9.6)
Mishnah, Avot 3.18 (Judaism)

So set your purpose for religion as a man by
nature upright—the nature [framed] of God, in
which He has created man. There is no alter-
ing the laws of God’s creation. That is the right
religion.
Qur’an 30.30

Conform yourselves to the character of God.
Hadith of Abu Nuaym (Islam)

Fire blazing from the earth.
The Superior man reflects in his person
Heaven’s virtue.
I Ching 35 (Confucianism)

If we keep unperverted the human heart—
which is like unto heaven and received from
earth—that is God.
Revelation to Mikado Seiwa (Shinto)

Looking first at absolute Justice, Beauty and
Temperance, and again at the human copy, they
will mingle and temper the various elements of
life into the image of a man. Thus is a human
being conceived according to that other Image,
which, when existing among men, Homer calls
the form and likeness of God.
Plato, The Republic (Hellenism)

As God is called merciful and gracious, so you
be merciful and gracious, offering gifts gratis to
all; as the Lord is called righteous and loving, s
you be righteous and loving.
Sifre Deuteronomy (Judaism)

God is never in any way unrighteous—he is per-
fect righteousness; and he of us who is the most
righteous is most like him.
Plato, Theaetetus (Hellenism)

That which is the finest essence—this whole
world has that as its soul. That is Reality. That
is the Self. That art thou.
Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 (Hinduism)

Veiled by ignorance,
The minds of man and Buddha
appear to be different;
Yet in the realm of Mind Essence
they are both of one taste.
Milarepa (Buddhism)

And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to all the con-
gregation of the people of Israel, ‘You shall be
holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.’”
Leviticus 19.1-2

Father, O mighty Force,
That Force which is in everything,
Come down between us, fill us,
Until we become like Thee,
Until we become like Thee.
Susu Prayer (African Traditional Religions)

“Now what do you think, Vasettha… is Brahma
[the supreme Being] in possession of wives and
wealth, or is he not?” 2
“He is not, Gotama.”
“Is his mind full of anger, or free from
anger?”
“Free from anger, Gotama.”
“Is his mind full of malice, or free from
malice?”
“Free from malice, Gotama.”
“Is his mind tarnished, or is it pure?”
“It is pure, Gotama.”
“Has he self-mastery, or has he not?”
“He has, Gotama.”
“Now what do you think, Vasettha, are the
brahmins versed in the Vedas in possession of
wives and wealth, or are they not?”
“They are, Gotama.”
“Have they anger in their hearts, or have
they not?”
“They have, Gotama.”
“Do they bear malice, or do they not?”
“They do, Gotama.”
“Are they pure in heart, or are they not?”
“They are not, Gotama.”
“Have they self-mastery, or have they not?”
“They have not, Gotama.”
“Can there, then, be agreement and likeness
between the brahmins with their wives and
property, and Brahma, who has none of these
things?”
“Certainly not, Gotama!”
“Then that these brahmins versed in the
Vedas, who also live married and wealthy,
should after death, when the body is dissolved,
become united with Brahma, who has none
of these things—such a condition of things is
impossible!”…
“Now what do you think, Vasettha, will the
monk who lives according to the Dhamma be
in possession of women and wealth, or will he
not?”
“He will not, Gotama!”
“Will he be full of anger, or free from
anger?”
“He will be free from anger, Gotama!”
“Will his mind be full of malice, or free from
malice?”
“Free from malice, Gotama!”
“Will his mind be tarnished, or pure?”
“It will be pure, Gotama!”
“Will he have self-mastery, or will he not?”
“Surely he will, Gotama!”
“Then as you say, the monk is free from
household and worldly cares, free from anger,
free from malice, pure in mind, and master of
himself; and Brahma also is free from household
and worldly cares, free from anger, free from
malice, pure in mind, and master of himself. Is
there then agreement and likeness between the
monk and Brahma?”
“There is, Gotama!”
“Then verily, that the monk who is free from
household cares should after death, when the
body is dissolved, become united with Brahma,
who is the same—such a condition of things is
in every way possible!”
Digha Nikaya 13.31-34, Tevigga Sutta (Buddhism)

What is man? Man is not matter; he is not made
up of brain, blood, bones, and other material
elements. The Scriptures inform us that man is
made in the image and likeness of God. Matter
is not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot
be so unlike Spirit. Man is spiritual and perfect;
and because he is spiritual and perfect, he must
be so understood in Christian Science. Man is
idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique.
Science and Health, 475 (Christian Science)