In other words, among the many countries of Asia, if there is one nation whose entire population can accept the Christian cultural background and also maintain a receptive attitude while the Pacific civilization is approaching before their eyes, that nation can naturally only be Korea. Japan, China, or the Soviet Union cannot fulfill this role. (222-134, 1991.10.28)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1194
The democratic political system is a system of struggle. That is why we have to rise to the position of parents. Only then can the struggle be stopped. Siblings can all unite, centered on the parents. The world of peace starts from such unity. There is no other method. First, people need to find the True Parents, and then everything else including true children, true nation, and true peace can be found. There is no other way. (205-190, 1990.9.1)
Perseverance and Patience
2. Never Give Up, but Persevere to the Very End
The Bible records… that in the Last Days even people with faith will find it hard to survive. Therefore, you must endure and forbear until the very end if you are to overcome this age of chaos and become victors. (4:237, May 18, 1958)
Our endurance should not end midway; it should go all the way. God has endured for six thousand years for this. Who is God? He is our Father. Because we inherited His flesh and blood and His virtues, we must be like Him.
(44:28, May 4, 1971)
You cannot complete your life of faith in one morning or one day. It is a lifelong path. In a life of faith, the main issue is to maintain your dedication with a constant mind and heart with a view towards eternity, beyond death. Your center core must be unchanging. No matter how difficult, sorrowful or painful, it can never change. To follow the path of faith you must discover this core in yourself, something you can never deny. (59:234-35, July 23, 1972)
Even though you have forbearance, you may realize that it is far from the terminal point. Today many who have been supporting our church say that they are too tired to go on. You hear people say that the Unification Church is good, but its way is too difficult to follow… Indeed, it is hard to go this way. It is a path of tears—tears over what we see, tears over what we feel, and tears in the midst of struggle. Some think that now the time has come for the tears to stop, but it is not yet.
I know that the tears must continue; I know that the heart of God is waiting for more tears of forbearance, waiting for us, the plaintive ones. I cannot lift my face before Him even though I have endured thus far. Though I have endured from 1945 until today,21 I have never thought about when I might reach the limit of patient forbearance.
I do not even wish for the days of endurance to end. It is a normal experience in the life of faith that once you start wishing for something to end you start looking after yourselves, and from that point on you feel anxious. (6:89, March 29, 1959)
God is eternal. Once He determines to do something, He never alters His course in the middle. What about you? You may be determined, but how long will you continue? For a month, a year, several years, ten years? Or will you continue for your entire lifetime? Your determination is bound to change. Sometimes you say to yourself, “If I like it, then I will do it. If I do not like it, I will not do it.” However, truth is truth whether you live or die; it is eternal. Truth is beyond death, beyond changeability.
Therefore, in order to be a true person, with the steadfastness of unchanging truth, you have to be beyond death. To be beyond death, you first have to conquer death. This means there will be a collision at some point between your changeability and unchangeability. When they collide, your changeable elements will shatter and only your unchanging elements will remain. It will be a collision between life and death. At that time you must overcome death; then you will have life. It is reasonable that you must pass through this stage on the path to making a relationship with God.
When will the moment of truth come for you? It will be the time when there arises an opportunity to be unchanging and changing at the same time. Both life and death appear before you. That is when the truth emerges. (66:43, March 18, 1973)
Nothing can quench the hope that burns in the hearts of parents who live all their lives, bound by the cords of love, for the sake of their children, offering their sweat and blood with backs bent by age and faces ravaged by time. Within them resides a force enabling them to clear the obstacles they encounter with a strutting gait however insurmountable they maybe. The path of a patriot is the same. The ancestors of our nation walked the path of patriotism imbued with a heart of deep love for their parents. Our chershed pride as their descendants who can inherit this love is to love as they did.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 812
If there were two paths, one that goes to heaven and another to hell, on which path would there be more people? There would be more people going to hell. What must God’s heart be like seeing this? How bitter He must feel! How appalled God is to see His sons and daughters, who were supposed to come to heaven, all going to hell. They were to have become the people of a vast nation living together with God in love and with no relation to hell. Think about how it would be if your children had to go to the place of death. All of you will ultimately come to know these things when you pass on to the spirit world. (244-25, 1993.1.29)
Perseverance and Patience
2. Never Give Up, but Persevere to the Very End
Scripture credits with performance not him who begins a task, but him who completes it.Talmud, Sota 13b (Judaism)
He who endures to the end will be saved.Mark 13.13
But Lot’s wife behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.Genesis 19.26
Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart. Galatians 6.9
You have crossed the great ocean; why do you halt so near the shore? Make haste to get on the other side, Gautama; be careful all the while!Uttaradhyayana Sutra 10.34 (Jainism)
To try to achieve anything is like digging a well. You can dig a hole nine fathoms deep, but if you fail to reach the source of water, it is just an abandoned well.Mencius VII.A.29 (Confucianism)
Suppose a man goes to the forest to get some of the pith that grows in the center of a tree and returns with a burden of branches and leaves, thinking that he has secured what he went after; would he not be foolish? A person seeks a path that will lead him away from misery; and yet, he follows that path a little way, notices some little advance, and immediately becomes proud and conceited. He is like the man who sought pith and came back satisfied with a burden of branches and leaves. Another man goes into the forest seeking pith and comes back with a load of branches. He is like the person on the path who becomes satisfied with the progress he has made by a little effort, and relaxes his effort and becomes proud and conceited. Another man comes back carrying a load of bark instead of the pith he was looking for. He is like the person who finds that his mind is becoming calmer and his thoughts clearer, and then relaxes his effort and becomes proud and conceited. Then another man brings back a load of the woody fiber of the tree instead of the pith. Like him is one who has gained a measure of intuitive insight, and then relaxes his effort. All of these seekers, who become easily satisfied after insufficient effort and become proud and overbearing, relax their efforts and easily fall into idleness. All these people will inevitably face suffering again. Majjhima Nikaya 1.192-95: Simile of the Pith (Buddhism)
Master Tseng said, “The true Knight of the Way must perforce be both broad-shouldered and stout of heart; his burden is heavy and he has far to go. For Goodness is the burden he has taken upon himself; and must we not grant that it is a heavy one to bear? Only with death does his journey end; then must we not grant that he has far to go?” Analects 8.7 (C
As a boy of sixteen, I came into contact with the will of Heaven through prayer, and throughout my life after that I have devoted all my spirit and energy to accomplishing God’s will. I came to understand that the fundamental cause of human unhappiness is that the relationship with God was severed owing to human beings falling into a state of spiritual ignorance as a result of the Fall of the ancestors of humankind. Through this, people fell into ignorance with regard to God, life, and the fundamental problems of the universe. I have spoken publicly on more than ten thousand occasions in many places around the world and set forth a true view of humanity, a true view of the world, and a true view of history based on Godism. These speeches have been translated into twelve languages and published in three hundred volumes. Their contents that I teach are not the result of a comprehensive study of historical documents or scholarly research, but are rather the principles and fundamental answers I arrived at through freely communicating with both the visible and invisible worlds.
Richard: VisionRoot will host the Dividing Line; Ending Sexual Abuse workshop on November 27th, 2021.. Stay tuned for details
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1241
The literal meaning of the word “blessing” is “praying for blessings.” If you break down the word chookbok (blessing), chook means to pray or wish for something. When you are praying for blessings, what is it that is most precious? It is none other than the blessing of love. The Unification Church uses the word blessing with this meaning. The blessing of love is the greatest, because the fundamental origin of life begins with man and woman coming together in a holy wedding. It represents the most precious commitment of the universe. When praying for blessing, the best blessing you can ask for is the blessing of love, and so the Unification Church refers to marriage as the Blessing.
Richard: What is most precious is the Blessing of marriage. Love, which has become profanced in the world, is only to be shared with your Blessed spouse.
Perseverance and Patience
1. Perseverance, Endurance and Forbearance
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Look at the Chinese character meaning ‘patience’ or ‘forbearance.’ The top half is the character for sword, and the bottom half the character for heart.20 From this, you can see that ‘patience’ means ‘to set a sword over your heart.’ If you are going to shoulder a large burden and accomplish a great task, your patience must be a hundredfold, a thousandfold, even infinite. (124:155-56, February 6, 1983)
The Chinese character for patience indicates that one should endure even under the threat of a knife to the heart. It is painful to have a knife stuck in your heart. Yet a person who endures that a thousand times can hope to triumph in a thousand battles. (93:320, June 12, 1977)
On your quest you will be hampered by innumerable foes, but you must fight them and fight them again, advance and advance again, clash and clash again. Thus supporting the altar of patience with your shoulders, feet, hands, torso and head, you must become a living offering who can climb over the hill of perseverance. (6:92, March 29, 1959)
A mature person makes effort to discover the sweet taste in all things bitter. That way, he knows their real taste. It is a law that things are sometimes up, sometimes down, as they go through their cycles. Likewise, sweet things leave a bitter taste, while bitter things have some sweetness in them. (98:205, August 1, 1978)
No matter how tired I may feel, once I think of the responsibility I have yet to fulfill, all that feeling of fatigue dissipates. (Way of God’s Will 1.5)
The way of religion is prolonged endurance; the way of religion is continual sacrifice. When in faith we endure and sacrifice, we can find the world of great love that God has been working towards. This is definitely true. Therefore, when we say that God is love, we should understand that sacrifice and endurance dwell in it. (112:51, March 29, 1981)
Which is the good side? The good side waits for a long time, keeps patience for a long time and keeps hope for a long time. The evil side has no patience. If it is at a disadvantage, it will try to punch the other and jump to action at once. The good stays patient and endures even through struggle and frustration. Whatever comes, it maintains hope and does not fall into despair. A good person is patient and enduring not only for himself; he is also patient and enduring for those who are not patient. (93:112, May 21, 1977)
What was the secret of Jesus’ victory over death? He lived for the sake of others and established a path of endurance through his own example. If in the Garden of Gethsemane he had said, “Father! Take this cup away from me! Please, I insist on it!” he would have lost everything. Yet instead he said, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Thy will be done.” Because he endured and went on, he was victorious. That is his greatness. (76:227, March 2, 1975)
No torture or punishment could make me deviate from the heavenly path. Nor could six imprisonments stand in the way of the True Parent’s search for His children. As I sat in a cold prison cell and watched drops of water fall from an eave, I pledged to myself, “Just as those droplets will eventually bore a hole through a boulder, the day will certainly come when these hot tears that fall from my eyes will melt God’s heart that is frozen in grief and bring Him liberation and release.” (May 1, 2004)
God has the mind to forbear with patience, in order to one day embrace the satanic world and even hell. That is why even the demons in hell will bow their heads before His presence. Therefore, if you desire to become champions at the last, the Father’s sons and daughters at the last, then in your minds and bodies you must feel God’s patience as your patience and God’s endurance as your endur-ance. (4:243, May 18, 1958)
Father, what Thou doest, we Thy children should do, and on the path Thou goest, we too must go—it is a destined way. Therefore, please do not allow us to become exhausted on the way, and give us unwavering hearts… to persevere and endure until the day we can receive the blessing, the day of Sabbath when Thou canst say, “You have won the victory, and you are Mine; all heaven and earth belong to you, My sons and daughters.” (13:236, March 22, 1964)
Communism must collapse. The democratic world should also collapse. The democratic world is based on humanism, whereas the communist world is based on materialism. Both have driven God away. The Vatican in Rome tried to bring about the unification of the world, centering on theism, and establish an ideal kingship. Due to its mistakes, however, the providence has come back here and they must be overcome through indemnity. Indemnity had to be paid in Britain, centering on the continent, and the mistakes of the Vatican in Rome on the Italian peninsula must be brought to Asia and restored there. Consequently, a peninsula in Asia, like that of Italy, should be restored. That is the Korean peninsula. (188-315, 1989.3.1)
Richard: Humanism can have different meanings. Here Rev. Moon is clearly referring to secular humanism. Here is a helpful quote from theNew World Encyclopedia:
Secular humanism, in its neglect of God the source of human values, risks an impoverishment of meaning. Yet, humanism is an inevitable reaction to theism when it is authoritarian and dogmatic. For human beings created in the image of God, the values of humanism express human beings’ God-given nature. Hence, while secular humanism is antithetical to theism, religious humanism and theism are complementary. As the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said, a “new synthesis” of Renaissance and Reformation is called for.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1973:
Britain is the Eve nation, America is the Abel nation, and France is the archangel nation. The mother should embrace the son, searching for these nations. Since what was lost has been found in this way, following this pattern, the father should be recovered. We are searching for the Adam nation because the Adam nation is the nation of the coming Lord, and that is the Korean peninsula. Why the Korean peninsula? It is like the Italian peninsula. That which was lost centering on the Vatican must be restored through indemnity. That which was lost in the west centering on the Italian peninsula must be found in the east. For this reason, the Korean peninsula becomes a global concern. The Korean peninsula is the borderline between death and life. The North and South were divided between communism and democracy, with Kim Il-sung in the north and Sun Myung Moon in the south. This is the reality. In the north, don’t they call Kim Il-sung, “Father”? Don’t people in the south call me “Father” or “the True Parent”? Who will liberate this situation? The president cannot solve the problem. Thus, it rests in my hands. (201-52, 1990.2.28
Perseverence and Patience
To accomplish anything truly worthwhile requires perseverance and patience. Patience is not merely to wait for fate to intervene; rather it means to continue on one’s path until the goal is achieved. Once the resolution is made and the task is begun, it should not be abandoned, for the result is often not decided until the very end. Perseverance requires long-suffering endurance of opposition, setbacks and delays, while maintaining steadfastly to one’s original commitment. It requires forbearance, resisting the temptation to change course or take a shortcut that would violate one’s principles. The scriptures express the virtue of perseverance through various metaphors: digging a well, boring to the pith of a tree, and water slowly but inexorably carving a hole in solid rock. In this light, Father Moon speaks of God’s forbearance as he has endured millennia of evils and sorrows, putting up with his fallen children’s sins and rebellions out of love and hope for their ultimate liberation. Therefore, by demonstrating perseverance and patience, we take after God’s perseverance and patience on our way to becoming God’s sons and daughters. For the story of Job’s patience in the midst of suffering, see chapter 15: Testing.
1. Perseverance, Endurance and Forbearance
Though he be ever so tired by repeated failure, let him begin his operations again and again; for fortune greatly favors the man who perseveres in his undertakings.
Laws of Manu 9.300 (Hinduism)
Perseverance prevails even against Heaven.
Talmud, Sanhedrin 105a (Judaism)
Prosperity forsakes those who always dream of fate and favors those who persevere. One should therefore always be active and alert.
Matsya Purana 221.2 (Hinduism)
Once when the Master was standing by a stream, he said, “Could one but go on and on like this, never ceasing day or night!”
Analects 9.16 (Confucianism)
If fishermen, hunters, and farmers, Thinking merely of their own livelihood, Endure the sufferings of heat and cold, Why am I not patient for the sake of the world’s joy? Shantideva, Guide to the Bodhisattva’sWay of Life 4.40 (Buddhism)
In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
Ecclesiastes 7.14
You who believe, seek help through patience and prayer; God stands alongside the patient! We will test you with a bit of fear and hunger, and a shortage of wealth and souls and produce. Proclaim such to patient people who say, whenever disaster strikes them, “We are God’s, and are returning to Him!” Such will be granted their prayers by their Lord as well as mercy. Those are guided!
Qur’an 2.153-57
Nanak, for man it is idle to ask for pleasure when suffering comes; Pleasure and suffering are like robes which man must wear as they come. Where arguing is of no avail, it is best to be contented. Adi Granth, Var Majh, M.1, p. 149 (Sikhism)
Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind. Leonardo Da Vinci, Notebooks (Humanism)
One should preserve, without the slightest diminution, the faith which one had at the time of renunciation. One should not be swept away by the eddies of a mercurial mind.
Acarangasutra 1.36-37 (Jainism)
Rabbi Akiba, illiterate at forty, saw one day a stone’s perforation where water fell from a spring, and having heard people say, “Waters wear stones,” he thought, “If soft water can bore through a rock, surely ironclad Torah should, by sheer persistence, penetrate a tender mind”; and he turned to study.
Talmud, Avot de Rabbi Nathan 6 (Judaism)
It matters not what you learn; but when you once learn a thing, you must never give it up until you have mastered it. It matters not what you inquire into, but when you inquire into a thing, you must never give it up until you have thoroughly understood it. It matters not what you try to think out, but when you once try to think out a thing you must never give it up until you have got what you want. It matters not what you try to sift out, but when you once try to sift out a thing, you must never give it up until you have sifted it out clearly and distinctly. It matters not what you try to carry out, but when you once try to carry out a thing you must never give it up until you have done it thoroughly and well. If another man succeed by one effort, you will use a hundred efforts. If another man succeed by ten efforts, you will use a thousand efforts. Let a man really proceed in this manner, and though dull, he will surely become intelligent; though weak, he will surely become strong.
Doctrine of the Mean 20 (Confucianism)
The Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Isaiah 30.18
We need the nation, and we need the world. There is no clear way to find these. When we look at this fact, you professors must also establish the ideal of the sphere of love, centering on the vertical love and connecting with the horizontal realm of love at 90 degrees. There’s no way to escape such a pursuit of the original universal history. That means you must listen to what I say. If you don’t, you won’t be on the right track. If you are on the right track, where will you be heading? You will go to the family. That’s why, when we say tong ban break-through activities, we’re talking about returning to the family and realigning yourself to the right track. Because all of you are the sons and daughters of Rev. Moon, I have unconditionally given you everything that I’ve prepared on the world level, from the realm of heart, the realm of participation and inheritance, to the realm of equal rank. Therefore, you must return to your hometowns and lay down your roots. If you just lay down your roots and stand up vertically aligned, then, through me, you will rise to the glorious position of victory in which you can inherit the worldwide domain and participate with me. This is logical. True Parents are absolute. That’s why all religions have come to the conclusion that the messiah absolutely must come. (176-124, 1988.5.3)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1212
The great contribution I made lies in the fact that I clarified the relationship between God and human beings centered on love, and clarified the portion of responsibility and the course of indemnity, as well as the problem of Cain and Abel, and the issue of the lineage. Unless Cain and Abel unite, the Messiah cannot come. Only when Cain and Abel become one is the foundation of substance formed, and only then can the Messiah come. Only when people are united with the Messiah can the restoration of the lineage take place. This is the gist of the Principle. You must understand such a program fully and pray accordingly. That is the way you should be thinking. (161-149, 1987.1.18)
Preparation and Making a Good Beginning
2. Taking the First Step
A big tree was once a small seed; a nine-story building started with a basket of earth; a journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step.
Tao Te Ching 64
The way of the superior man may be compared to traveling to a distant place: one must start from the nearest stage. It may also be likened to ascending a height: one must begin with the lowest step.
Doctrine of the Mean 15
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
After receiving the command of God which foretold that He would judge the earth after 120 years, Noah did not wait around, thinking, “So what if a year has passed; there are still 119 years left.” God commands only once; it is up to each individual to commit to its great purpose. (19:237)
To achieve victory for the year, set your goals on New Year’s Day. Then equip yourself with a fighting spirit and a driving power to pursue your goals and overcome the challenges for 365 days or more. If you do not do this, you are bound to be defeated before the year is over. If you live one year like this, and then continue in this manner, it will eventually add up to 10 years, then 20 years, 30 years—and this becomes the path of a victorious life. (31:30, April 12, 1970)
Eternity does not start when we die. It begins at the moment we come to know God’s will. Once we know it, if there is a gap of even one moment, eternity will be stopped.
Therefore, in pursuit of our life of faith, if we think, “I cannot make it this year, but I will do it next year” or “I cannot go in my adolescence, but I will go in my 20s,” or “I cannot do it in my 20s, but surely I will in my 30s” or “I cannot in my 30s but I will in my 40s” or “I cannot in my 40s but I will in my 50s”… If we lived our whole life like this, we would never have lived even one day in accordance with God’s Will. A person who lives like that cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven when he dies. (37:219, December 27, 1970)
