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People tend to think that everything is relative. Looking around, we observe things in relative subject and object positions. According to this pattern people believe that good and evil are probably also relative, but here we should think more closely. When we say some things are relative, such as man and woman, we mean that each one can give value to the other. They are relative because neither is absolute or exists without the other; they both have value.
Instead of one person asserting his own absolute value, he tries to find more value in the other person. Then the pair can be elevated to a higher level than they could experience as individuals. We see this every day. When a boy and girl are young, they assert themselves individually, but as they grow older they begin to seek an object, or spouse. They begin to feel there is more value in their object than in themselves.
It is common for lovers to ask one another, "How much do you love me?" Each wants to hear that the partner loves him or her more than anyone else. "Even more than your life?" they may ask. When the spouse who asks that hears, "Yes, even more than my life," he or she is satisfied. When one partner says that, he wants to hear the same answer in return. We can conclude that each person exists for the other, not himself. Each recognizes more value in the person who is in the relative position.
Love is the center of everything and all extensions of love will exist in the same pattern of relationship. Everyone who lives according to that standard as subject and object can get along harmoniously. Of course, each individual will value himself, but he will care more about something at higher levels, such as cultural traditions or his country. He realizes there is something more precious than himself. An individual naturally wants to find someone to unite with, and those two in turn want to become an object to a higher subject, and so on.
America cannot exist all by itself and is becoming more aware that it is an interdependent part of the world. The communists are continuously pursuing their goal of global domination and that is why they recently invaded Afghanistan. Why did so many people condemn that act? After all, it seems to be a law of creation that the stronger prey on the weaker, so what's wrong with mankind living that way? Some people think the Americans would have done the same, so what's terrible about the Russians doing it? The issue here is the standard of good and evil.
Relativity is exhibited everywhere, such as hot and cold, up and down, man and woman. It is easy to think that good and evil are in a relative relationship also. But with good and evil there is no subject-object relationship; certainly goodness does not give value to evil or vice versa. Thus, it is not the same as the relationship between man and woman. When positive and negative relate to each other, they can take still another subject or object, becoming a bigger plus.
After finishing one level of education, we can move on to a higher level-from elementary to middle school, then high school and so forth. But we elevate ourselves only when we have absorbed all the knowledge of one level; you don't jump to high school from elementary school. In the same way, things are relative in the context of this formula. The individual has not only his purpose but a higher purpose relating to the whole. We each have a purpose to accomplish as an individual, and the whole has a purpose to accomplish as well. It is true that the individual is smaller than the whole, but the individual must also be fulfilled if he is to meet the purpose of the whole. Today people want to promote their purpose as individuals, but they are forgetting to emphasize the purpose of the whole or the world, and that mistake must be corrected.
Unification Church members work very hard and their efforts are based on fundamental values. Ordinary people don't often ask the most fundamental questions of life and the world. This is important knowledge that applies to everything, however, from the smallest cell to world government. There is no area where it doesn't work. Nothing moves without a purpose; everything needs a nucleus. As something turns around, it pursues a goal and moves toward the core or center. Everything in nature moves along a curve. Although a short segment may appear to be a straight line, in the overall picture it follows a curving path. As long as something is in motion, it is searching for an object to relate to. As long as it keeps moving, it has not yet found its object.
Is a conscience trying to get to one place where it can stay? Conscience is a function that is acting all the time; it doesn't work to get you to a final destination or place, but is a relative thing. We can see it is pursuing something, and has a certain subject in mind. Thus, it is always guiding a person to pursue a certain direction. When you reach adolescence, something directs you toward the opposite sex, right? We can assume that the conscience is also directing a person toward a certain center or nucleus where the highest purpose is.
Nothing stops completely, but finds a certain orbit to keep moving in. We have discovered that there is a great difference between Orientals and Westerners even of the same generation, but the one thing they have in common is the action of conscience. They may differ externally, but their conscience always works in the same general direction. Conscience has an objective in mind; it doesn't drive a person blindly. Is it focused on getting power or meeting a material need? It should be striving for both truth and love. Maybe conscience is striving for truth, or life itself, or love itself. Which of these three should we rest on? Maybe we should rest on life because it is the basis of everything else. How can you say so confidently that we should rest on love?
Why does love come above life? Something pushes us to go higher; this is the way we are built. Without following this pattern, our very lives would not continue. With life alone you cannot progress above the foundation level, but with love and even without physical life, you can progress. From this viewpoint it is logical for everyone to cherish love. It is the only explanation we can give of our purpose in life. Does anyone have a better idea? Any objections? Because we are made to pursue higher and higher love, a person can even give up his life to achieve love.
What survives at the last-truth, life, or love? Just like the marathon runner carries the torch, a person can carry the torch of love everywhere. The fire and torch are the same, whether large or small; love is love, whether large or small. All action is aimed at an objective, but it always moves in a circular path, back again to its starting point, the cause itself. That is the relationship of cause and effect. Are you born for truth, life, or love? If you feel you are born for love then that's the point you will rest on. If you ask a communist why he is born, he will reply he is born for bread and for material things. Actually, he would not really feel satisfied with the idea of being born for a material purpose. Wouldn't he want to say he was born for love, just as we do?
A person can do everything for the sake of love, even if it means suffering or being called names. The Moonies are not really better or more capable than anyone else, but we know this one principle, and we want to do anything to achieve true love. We do not shrink from fund raising or living a difficult life. Being prevented from reaching love would be more intolerable than anything for us. Why are Moonies different in this respect?
If you are living sacrificially for the purpose of finding love, you will find true life. When you cry for others, your tears are true tears. If you act with a loving heart, yours are true actions. Such a person has a true life, and his career is a true career; his world is a true world. Where does that genuine quality come from? Even if a person becomes a beggar because of true love, he will be a true beggar. He could also be a true farmer, true scholar, true laborer, and true student. We find no true teacher, President, or anything here in America. Neither are there true people of faith. But it is not impossible; when love is injected, these things achieve the quality of genuineness.
Is it desirable to go crazy for the sake of love? If God is trying to change people and make them live vigorously for love, is He normal or abnormal? Is He a gentleman, or a crazy man? A person who will do anything to achieve a goal may be called crazy. Such a person would crawl instead of walking on two feet if it brought him closer to love. We have no set idea of what it means to live for love. God has been working on this dispensation for 6,000 years and during this time there have been many impossible barriers blocking Him. Only the fact that He has been driven crazily and blindly toward the goal of love kept God from chopping off the heads of everyone in the dispensation. You laugh because you find meaning in this!
Those who like the smell of skunk, raise your hands. No one does. It is terrible, but once it has the element of love, even a skunk can smell good. If that is true, then there is nothing that is really dirty. If an Oriental parent is worried about his child who is ill and there is no doctor available, he might taste the child's bowel movement. If it is sweet then he knows the baby may be really ill, but if it is bitter then the baby is in less trouble. How could a parent do something so unpleasant? It is not out of duty, but only out of love.
People cannot always explain it to themselves, but they sense that their ultimate goal is not money, but love. If you ask some people how we should live, they might answer, "We are animals, so maybe we should live like the animals." That's all they can make of life. But is a thoughtful person happy with the idea that he is the cousin of a monkey? You struggled to get here early in the morning to sit on the floor. How could anyone call that happiness'? Something special is here; you do it for the sake of love. I make your life impossibly difficult, but I do it for the sake of love. The most vivid adjectives could not describe your happiness then. How fantastic it is to live this way! If by becoming blind someone could get better love, he would do that.
Today's topic is the world of good and evil. We have learned that all people try to progress in their lives by finding value in an object. But what is the difference between good and evil? It is good to live a difficult life for the sake of others, even if it involves pain. Do you want to go to a university like Harvard because it is easy? Once at Harvard you will not have time for partying, or for sleeping long hours, or for anything except your studies. You don't have to attend Harvard to know that we can endure anything for love. At some time each person may feel the need for a religious life, but does he want an easy one or a crazy one, like the Unification Church? What person would God like more-the one who takes the difficult way, or the one who always goes the easy way?
Would God like to see the most handsome man elected President, or the person who cares more than anyone about America? If he had only one leg, would that matter? Especially if he lost his leg for the sake of America, then he would be more attractive than a President with two legs. Our conclusion is that a good leader drives people in an impossible way as the shortest cut toward the goal. In addition, he drives himself mercilessly. The fastest way to reach the goal is to be crazy and not think of anything else except getting there. Then there is no limit to how fast you can go.
We have seen that existence in the world is relative, but that good and evil are not relative. They ate totally different and unrelated as subject and object. The evil person is the one who does everything for his own sake. In the world of evil there is no true relative thinking; no one there is looking for an object so that he can be elevated by give and take. Therefore, in the world of evil there is no point of love and there is no progress. With this criterion you can decide whether American individualism is more bad than good, whether the American family is more bad than good, or if this nation is more bad than good. If America continues on the side of evil, it will perish. That is because the universal power which sustains life and promotes relationship will not support self-centeredness.
Goodness and evil are not relative to each other, but are contradictory. So far two worlds have existed on this earth, but now a stronger world of goodness is taking shape and the world of evil must decline and perish. Now nothing can be neutral, but is either on the side of good or evil. In this light we see the significance of the Unification Church. What is the world of good and evil? Today's world has good elements and evil elements which are mixed up together. Thus it is often difficult to tell what is good or bad. When you really examine what most people say is good, you often have to conclude it is bad. It is that kind of world today.
Unless we can clearly distinguish what is good and evil, we have no hope of finding God and going in the direction we should go. Why do we have to involve indemnity in this? How nice life would be without it! I don't like indemnity either. If you have been in school for five years but you haven't studied very hard, then you have to study intensely in the last few months so you can still graduate on time. You have to work to the extent that you feel like you are dying. This is our present situation. Those five years are analogous to human history with all the central figures failing along the way. Now we are in the last stages with only a few more months left until graduation. God wants to drive us out in an impossible way so that graduation can still take place.
If God asks to see the person who will be successful after no one else in history has succeeded, would you step forward? There is one person who said, "Yes, I can do it, without question." No white person answered, though God thought a white person could be very effective. No black person answered but then one Oriental man stuck up his hand. That happened to be Reverend Moon. Would God say I didn't qualify because I wasn't white? God gave approval without hesitation, telling me to go ahead and see if I could do it. My countrymen opposed me so much I could hardly open my eyes. God was looking on, waiting to see if I could make it. If I had started to pray at that point, "God, what shall I do?" I would have been lost. Such an unconfident man would never make it.
If God had said, "Well, you have done enough now," the victorious person would reply, "No! I haven't even started yet." That's exactly how I feel now at the age of sixty-I haven't started anything yet. This is how I thought and felt in Korea, and it has brought me where I am today. All I have accomplished so far is to start a church with a bad name! If I had done things differently, we would never have been called names. Today secular Americans feel that our church is either really good or really bad. We aren't in the middle.
People have said I am more of a dictator and extremist than Hitler or Stalin. Imagine how I feel being called such things. The names have been getting worse and worse, but there has to be an end. Some people are saying that Moonies are the best people in the world. The media thought we were really bad and reported about us in that way, but now they are changing, and the positive side and negative side are almost evenly balanced.
The time has come that we can confront the force of evil in the arena. You can let your opponent land his hardest blows, making yourself available to be hit until he gives up. If he leaves the ring and you remain, then you are the champion. Now is the time when you can even challenge a person, saying, "If you really want to come out and fight, let's do it fairly. So far I haven't fought back." Our task is to overcome the historical indemnity, not because we are so terrible, but because we are carrying the historical cross. The champion perseveres, remembering the persecution he received at each level. Finally, he can fight back at evil when he has endured all that, with the heart of clearing away God's past regrets about His individuals, His families, nation and world.
Those in the position of the sons and daughters of the Messiah want to indemnify everything that is left in the fallen world. We want to do that at an impossible rate, and this is what home church is all about. We will do it with a hot heart until there is no more opposition. When there is nothing more to do in home church, we will shoot straight up to God's heart like a rocket and explode there. How would God feel? "I don't care if everything explodes," He would say; "Meeting you is what matters."
God has been wanting so badly to find the people He can love, and when He sees even the one person who perseveres and comes to Him, that's all that matters. We want to be in the position to say, "Everything is finished. Hallelujah. Amen." This is where true peace will begin.
No matter how old you are, there is one thing more important than the Blessing: home church. What parents do not want their children to get married? That's the whole purpose for which they have been raising their children.
I have been hearing that some of the engaged women are pressuring their fiancés to get more education so they can be leaders. Is it a wonderful fiancée who thinks that way? No, her fiancé should say, "You Satan. Instead of going to school, I will do anything else." Now you agree with this after listening to me because you have a new perspective! The way we work is much more worthwhile than getting a degree. Without going this course, no one can get to the heaven that I introduce. Do you need lots of education to register for citizenship there? No, being persecuted like God and True Parents is the requirement. This is why "my indemnity" is part of today's topic. You must know what your indemnity is.
You pay attention to what I am doing, and you even anticipate what sort of talk I will give you on Sunday morning. You know that although I start out speaking nicely, I always conclude just like every other talk-telling you to go suffer more! I know one thing though: popular teachers are rarely good teachers. The unpopular teachers are usually the best. Chances are that the kind of parents who buy whatever their children want even before they ask are not good parents. But the children who feel their parents never understand young people and are too severe probably have good parents. A husband who feels his wife should do whatever she wants, whenever she wants, is not a good husband. But a wife who complains that her husband never lets her out of his sight, wanting her around 24 hours a day, probably has a good husband. This is why I hardly let the staff members out of my sight. In Gloucester, if someone is gone for a day, I ask where they are. I know this is the best kind of leader.
I will make you go the road of historical indemnity, not just contemporary indemnity, so that you can be more brilliant than anyone in history. Such a person will live in the center of the universe for eternity. In that position he will become one with God and with God's love, being subject to many objects. Out of millions of white men, I want one man to go this way. That will suffice. I am not looking for multitudes of black men to do this, but just one, and just one Oriental. In each of 124 nations I want one such man, and when I go to spirit world I will live with them as representatives of mankind. God does the same thing. He won't live with hundreds of thousands of people together, but with representative persons. If you don't want to do this yourself, fine, but certainly one man will do it.
A teacher shares what he knows with everyone in the class, but when test time comes, only a few people get perfect scores. The teacher wants most of all to have a student who gets perfect scores. If several get 99, but no one gets 100%, the teacher will be disappointed. If only one gets 100, however, then the teacher still knows he taught the way he should. This is what God wants and what I want. I came to earth desiring to raise one man from each country to the 100% standard. Then I can go to spirit world satisfied. Each country can come into orderliness and the universe will go round. Would you like to be that person? Are you going to go the way of loving yourself first, or your object? You live for your family more than for yourself, for your country more than your family, and so on. Each level gets more difficult.
Now we know there are two paths of living and nothing in between, so you know which one you will choose. Those who complain will not survive. There were hundreds of situations where I would have been justified in complaining, but then everything would have been lost.
When spiritual people pray to know who I am, the answer they are given isn't that I am the greatest man, but that I am the most to be pitied on earth, the man who lives most miserably. For whom am I miserable and suffering? It is for God and mankind. Until people recognize that and such a world of love is established, the Unification Church will have to keep moving and working hard. We have every reason to believe that we will not fail. Even if I die before fulfilling completely, the direction toward heaven for the sake of love is already well set. You know that God will absolutely never forsake you.
From which countries do most missionaries come? The Japanese missionaries want to stay in their mission countries, no matter what. Even when I invite them to come to America for a while, they insist on staying. They are willing to die there. The country which has more volunteers like this will rank number one. This is my perspective when I look at people and this is how I view Americans, Germans and Japanese. Is my standard wrong? Those three countries are representative of the world, and among them there is bound to be one which ranks the highest. The leader of the country with the most people wanting to give their lives to save others is the person I will entrust the dispensation to.
We have gone heavily into debt to put resources into America for the cause, spending more money here than anywhere else. Yet this is where I have received the most opposition. It is possible that this can be the best of all nations. It is not the person who pleases me in the short run that I think highly of. Now you know the long range criteria I use to decide. I always look to see whether a person will meet this standard even if I treat him harshly. I look to see how long a person will last that way. I have experienced nothing but harshness from God, but I knew He was that way out of love. This is why I cannot leave.
Such a life is preparation for receiving the most precious inheritance. When I win some victory, such as at a public rally, I never indulge myself in congratulations but brace myself and feel it is a foundation for a new start. As soon as I sleep a few hours, I begin anew. I have never settled down cozily anywhere. I could easily leave East Garden at any moment and start over again somewhere else. Even Mother puzzles about how I seem never to worry. It is because I am confident to start over again at any time.
I have a consistent goal of serving God and the world, and I know God has the same viewpoint. The person who is anxiously waiting for indemnity to end has a good chance of opposing the Unification Church some day. He does not understand indemnity. There is such a thing as personal comfort, but there is also the historical goal to be achieved. What we focus on is what decides the matter. I have been interested and concerned about America, but I will have to show even more interest in Africa, the communist countries, and the rest of the world.
People will bow down to God for His glory and greatness, but there should also be one man to whom all races can bow down. Such a man would be a true saint. God is wanting to see such a person, and so am I. God is waiting to see how many people like that will come to exist through me. This is another reason I cannot leave you alone, but drive you out. Do you welcome that? Since this is God's desire, we should feel content with indemnity. When you really love someone, you can't criticize or complain against him. Complaint should not get in the way of someone who is pursuing true love. Are you going toward love? Can you criticize a small mistake in logic when you are in love? Can you worry about whether I will send you out pioneering again in winter when you just came back from forty days in the summer? We do this to be able to receive love from God and give it to mankind.
Recently I recommended that one of the Church elders sell his house and help another Church member. Then he began complaining, and I determined I would never say the same thing to him again. He had been receiving love, but reached a point he could not go beyond. I never had any complaint toward God, no matter what direction I was given. Whatever God asked, I did it without questioning. I certainly had no criticism in mind. I know that many people would complain to God but God can count on me never to object.
Lady Dr. Kim recently returned from Africa and told me about a religious group there of about 10,000 people. The leader had been praying deeply about what he should do, and the answer came, "Sun Myung Moon." He thought that meant he should call himself Sun Myung Moon, and he asked God, "What should I name my church?" And the reply came, "Unification Church." When Lady Dr. Kim met him, she asked what his name was. He replied, "Sun Myung Moon," and she asked to hear more, so he told her his story. Then he asked what church she was from, and she told him, "Unification Church." Then they embraced each other and cried, "Even on opposite sides of the world God prepared so much for us and mankind," and they laughed together.
Why did the spirit world teach this man in this way? It is because God is proud of the people who love Him most. You want to leave behind honor for the name and work of the person you love the most. By the fact that we have all met, from one end of the world to the other, you know that God must love you; otherwise He wouldn't arrange our meeting. Why do I drive you out to do home church activities? Is it to develop political power to elect a President'? No, and not for money, surely. It is only for love. This is a truthful teaching, and this is a true movement; this is a true ideal. There is no secondary one, so we can't help but do this.
In the secular world the person with more education has a better chance, but such people usually complain more. In the science conferences we see that scientists have a tendency to relate something only to their particular specialty. But it is the quality of love to observe the whole, not just a part. If you are busy digesting the whole, there is no time to complain or criticize, but just to keep swallowing. Are you like that?
What is your destination and goal? My destination is the Love Pole-like the North or South Pole-the summit of love. Don't look for me anywhere else because I won't be there. Don't say you looked in heaven but I wasn't there. I will be at the Pole of Love, relating in love with God and everyone in the world. When God is at the North Pole, I want to be at the South Pole of love. Once both poles are occupied, a sphere is formed through the relationship. What more can you want?
I feel that all those who are eager to inherit love are in my clan. I have given you an ideal and direction. This is the objective of everyone in spirit world, no matter how long it takes them to get there. Here our situation is very different because we have physical bodies. How to realize this ideal during our limited life span on earth is our task. Would you like to give it a try? The goal is never made possible by knowledge or life, but by love only.
For this goal St. Paul dedicated everything he had. Jesus also went straight toward this, even though his earthly life was miserable. If I am not dumb, why did I persevere the way I did? It is because I know this one truth. As soon as I awake from sleep, I feel I must get started again. Sometimes my eyes just open by themselves, and even if it is 2:30 in the morning, I feel I must get started. Love is waiting there to be fulfilled. Sometimes I feel God is so pitiful that I cannot help crying, and then without my realizing it someone is embracing me-God Himself. That is reality, not imagination. Every one of you is headed to that way of life. How different it is from the worldly style of life, but also how valuable.
Even though members may become disappointed and leave, they can never forget me. There are plenty of people like that in Korea who, at some unusual event in their lives, are suddenly moved to tears as they remember me. They never understood me when they were with me, but still the action of love and conscience is working. It always heads in the same direction. In the same way, you cannot forget your first love, although you cannot precisely describe why. Something unconscious remembers.
You can feel how advanced and all-inclusive the ideal is, though other people don't understand. If you studied for years in great universities, you could not find anything greater than this. How many of you can say you are intent on going this way and finding such love? God bless you.