by Rev. Young Hwi Kim
Chapter 23
December 23, 1984
There are many different types of medicine in the Orient. One, called four-category medicine, categorizes people into four groups: tae yang (greater positivity), so yang (lesser positivity), so um (lesser negativity) and tae um (greater negativity). Doctors first categorize a patient by examining his bone structure, physical shape, complexion and nature etc. They then find out what kind of disease he has and treat him according to his type. Even though a patient may have the same disease as another, a different treatment will be given him according to his type. This school of medicine also says that people of each group have a weak point in a certain part of the body. For instance, those who belong to tae um have weak lungs. This means that from birth everyone has some flaw. You may think this was caused by the fall. I'm not sure, but I don't think so. Man has certain weak points from birth, not just physically, but in his character as well. No one is good in every respect. Even geniuses are this way; they excel in one point, but are lacking in another.
Then why did God create man in this way? Why? We know that even good swimmers who are confident in their swimming ability drown sometimes. If you are overconfident or careless though, you can easily make a fatal mistake. Sometimes a person who has an illness or weakness lives longer because he takes better care of himself. Knowing that one part is weaker, he is careful about his diet and habits. If you think you are strong and can live as you want, without taking care of yourself, you may die prematurely. In the Orient we say that one sickness can stop many disasters; it may cause you to take better care of yourself than you would otherwise.
South Korea is constantly being threatened by North Korea. As a result the South Koreans are united and anticommunist. They defend their nation and want to help it prosper. They must work hard or face destruction. The nation has been compelled to unite and make more effort in order to face the threat. Japan is in a similar situation; the Soviet Union is constantly trying to dominate it. In one sense it's a bad situation, but in another it's good because it compels them to unite and work harder. The same is true of individuals; when you know that you are weak in a certain field, you work hard to compensate and as a result you can develop. Knowing that your body has a particular flaw makes you take better care of yourself and thus strengthens you.
We all know that people are starving in many parts of the world. The world must work to find a way to relieve this suffering. It's a tragic situation, but through it the nations of the world can move in the right direction: towards using their resources correctly, for the benefit of all people, not just their nation. This is happening slowly, but it must come. Six to ten thousand years ago there was an agricultural revolution. Man's lifestyle changed completely and as a result new challenges arose. Of course we don't know exactly what happened during the agricultural revolution because we weren't alive at the time and history does not tell us, but there must have been many hardships. This change must have caused problems but man overcame them and civilization developed. Two or three hundred years ago there was another revolution, the industrial revolution, that also brought about many changes, not only in lifestyle, but in the social structure as well. Many people thought it would lead to a disaster man would be unable to cope with. But, we managed.
Now we are facing a third revolution, called the computer or information revolution. They are now working on fourth generation computer systems. We may not be aware of it yet, but soon our lifestyle will be affected in ways we never imagined. What is a computer? It works like man's brain, taking over some of its functions. If man can learn to coexist with computers and the new information systems, he will be alright, but if not, he will have big problems. We know that psychiatric problems can be caused by the spirit world, spirits can possess and control a person. They can also come about as a result of a change in our lifestyle. Increased tension can induce many diseases, especially mental diseases. How can we cope with this current challenge? We must understand the Divine Principle; man must be able to control his physical body with his mind.
God can work through this situation; due to the challenges of this revolution, man must recognize the spirit world, he must think of his brain and his soul and as a result a new age will dawn. Man must understand what he is. Scientists have discovered many things about man's brain but their understanding is still quite primitive. Some have tried to prove that the brain, which they think is material, controls man's mind. Many of them are atheists, so they look at things from a materialistic point of view. We must recognize that man's brain is the instrument through which his spirit works. Man's problems cannot be solved without understanding this. The third revolution will bring a new age in which man will recognize God and spirit.
We will face an oil shortage in the near future. So we must develop new energy sources, nuclear and solar energy for example. Now we use atomic fission energy, but fusion energy is much better. The three major nations: America, Japan and Europe (the EEC nations have a common laboratory) are competing to develop this new technology. We don't know which nation will be the first to develop fusion energy. Incredible barriers must be overcome; temperatures of 100 million degrees are required for nuclear fusion to take place. It's possible that they may succeed before 1990. To my knowledge, Japan is now ahead of the others. They have succeeded in making a new device which can create temperatures quite close to those needed. This development is taking place because of the fuel shortage. Due to the world's deficiencies new developments can occur. God can use this situation to develop a new culture. Everything stems from God's providence. God's will is to create the ideal world; it must come. A clean and efficient energy source will be needed in such a world. Also man must understand the spirit world in order to solve psychiatric problems. So we can see that God is working on both levels: physical and spiritual.
Despite having virtually no natural resources Japan has become the world's number two economic power. The same thing can be done by an individual; even without good qualities, we can develop ourselves. Of course it takes more effort and determination, but in this way we become better. It is the same with your spouse. You shouldn't expect your spouse to be perfect. No! Everyone has flaws. When a baby is born can it walk? No. Can it speak? No. It must be taken care of by its parents. By caring for their baby, the parents' heart goes out to it. They must invest everything they have and as a result they love their baby even more. Through this process God wants parents and children to come closer. The same can be said about husband and wife. If your husband or wife was perfect and didn't need to be corrected, it wouldn't be very stimulating, would it? But in our case some people can't even speak their spouse's language, just like a baby; So you have to teach your spouse, just as parents teach their children. In this way you can develop greater love for each other. Your spouse can grow through your love, education and care. You invest yourself in your spouse and your spouse develops; as a result you will have a closer relationship and even deeper love. Through these examples we can see that individuals, nations and the world can develop as a result of their faults.
We are approaching the end of 1984. We can realize many things when we reflect upon our life. We should think of our shortcomings as a springboard to leap to a higher place, a higher dominion. We should have confidence. When we make effort, God will help us, otherwise He cannot. God is always behind us, pushing us to improve. So as a result of our shortcomings we can strengthen and improve ourselves till we ultimately reach perfection. We should see everything in this light. We can go in either direction depending on our way of thinking. With negative thinking we will decline, but with positive and constructive thinking we can develop to a higher level. This is God's attitude, so we should see things in the same way. God wants to teach us through our shortcomings to help us improve.
The reason I spoke about this today is that everyone has shortcomings. That isn't unfortunate, but an opportunity to improve ourselves. We shouldn't let our faults discourage us; we should use them to improve ourselves instead. You should feel that this is God's blessing, God's encouragement to become whole. We can reach perfection by making extra effort to cope with and compensate for our failings. We must confront them with courage and make effort to strengthen and complete ourselves. In this way we can contribute to the establishment of God's Kingdom of Heaven.
Let us pray:
Our loving Heavenly Father, you created us as your children out of your love. Your desire was to make us happy, strong, perfect people, to be like you and live together with you. To become your children we must inherit your nature. But we have weaknesses. This is not to make us sad but to make us better, stronger, more perfect people. Actually you gave us these weaknesses out of your love. We should use them as encouragement and tools for improving ourselves. Father, we know we have many weak points, but we don't want to be discouraged because of them. On the contrary we should feel more confident and challenge ourselves to overcome them and become better people. If we didn't have any shortcomings, we couldn't develop ourselves. So it is actually to help us develop a character like yours that you gave us weak points, Father. We should be grateful for this opportunity, take courage and go forward to overcome. Father, we ask you to give us courage, strength and power so that all of us can become your true children by overcoming all our faults.
Father, we are coming to the end of 1984. We must retrace our footsteps and consider how we lived and what we did in the past year and what we should do in the coming year. Father, we ask for your wisdom so we can find solutions to our problems and have a hopeful new year. Our True Father is in Danbury. We pray, especially at this time, that he can be liberated soon to lead us physically and spiritually again. We also pray for our Mother and the True Children; please protect them, Father. May they be happy and may they be able to fulfill their responsibilities.
We pray all this in the name of our True Parents. Amen.