Raising Children In God's Will

by Rev. Sun Myung Moon

1. Origin of life

Originally love had to bloom between Adam and Eve, when they were most joyful, when they experienced life's ultimate and ideal force. So their love would bloom like a power, its fragrance would overflow the whole universe. God hoped that such joy of love between Adam and Eve would intoxicate Him and would bring Him the ultimate happiness. God and humanity can be in total harmony, where the flower of ideal love blossoms. They become inseparable. Love should have resulted only in such a state.

Adam and Eve should have made the fruit of love only in such a holy state. Then what was going to happen to that fruit? Fruit is basically like a seed. A seed. Every seed is made of two different pieces are connected by an embryo bud where there is life. The origin of a seed's life is parental love and their life force as well as God's love and life force. The seed is essential for life to grow and develop. (104-45)

A fundamental element that composes a human being is love before anything else. Even life is after love. (177-314)

Love is the ancestor of creation. Do you understand what I mean by that? If it is the ancestor, then naturally we expect to see descendants. Love is a binding force tying ancestors and descendants as one. Love is a son's father, at the same time, a father's son. In love, father and son are one. (118-289)

2. Pregnancy and Morning Sickness

A baby's seed is inside of a mother's womb. A father also has seeds doesn't he? A father's seeds are inside him. Therefore, a baby can be conceived by going through from the father's inside to the mother's. Then how can be a baby created? Through a mother and father. All of you are created by going through your father and mother's insides. History is interesting when you look at it that way. (16-192)

Are you happy or unhappy to be born a woman? Answer me. Are you miserable or happy? (happy) According to the original plan of creation, you should be thoroughly happy to be women. However, you are unhappy to be women because you were born after the fall of humankind. You are truly miserable. Why is it so? Who was the cause of the fall? (A woman) Woman, a woman was the cause. So what caused the fall? (Love) Love, love caused the fall. As it reads in the Bible, the satanic world bore fruit with Sodom. This kind of society will always be punished. Always. Rome fell because of its citizens' promiscuity and lewdness.

The decline of the United States is also being caused by its people's loose morality. Why does God hate the sin of promiscuity and lewdness the most? Originally, love is a contact line that only God dominates. It is the contact line on which God can build up an ideal world. It is like a chain. Then what is the contact line centered upon? It is centered on love. God wanted to build an ideal world by making that contact line which is a chain of love. But He has not been able to realize His original plan. All were ruined because of Adam and Eve's fault.

God wants to mend his broken chain of love, let a man hold one side and a woman the other and then make that chain one again as a fruit symbolizing the unity of the whole world. He wanted to plant the seed of that fruit of love between a man and a woman and bear thousands and millions of heavenly fruits. The storehouse for those fruits is the Kingdom of Heaven. Women are very important. Why are women happy? Why? Because God's beloved human beings can be born and raised through a woman's body. Do you understand? There is no other way for any human being to be born without going through a woman's body. Do you see?

However big God's hope for humanity is, that world of hope cannot be realized without women. It is impossible. Neither a man nor a woman can conceive babies without each other. The moment a baby is conceived, it starts a deep relationship with the mother. Until the baby is born to this world, it grows inside the mother as part of her flesh and blood. Beloved sons and daughters are undeniably precious. Do you understand? They are God's precious gift. You cannot trade them with any amount of money. You would not trade them with the whole world. They are that precious. They are that precious to God and their parents as well.

Can anyone trade their children with anything in this world? Who embraces and protects in her bosom and make those lives be born as God's priceless gifts to this world? Mothers. What fathers do is limited to giving their seed to mothers-to-be. Don't you agree? Therefore, everyone in the world owes a lot to mothers. In that respect, men cannot reach women's depth in the world of heart and love. No matter how well one describes that world to men, they cannot perceive such depth. (165-100)

Women suffer the pain of childbirth. They carry their babies for 9 months... How do you call it? Morning sickness... Morning sickness is a signal. It's a signal to call out for universal sympathy. Calling out for protection. Protect! That is what the signal means. Isn't it interesting? It is also a warning to be careful for mothers. Be careful, be careful! In this respect, morning sickness is not a bad thing. Babies whose mothers had to go through a rough pregnancy (morning sickness etc.) possess a keen sense. You will see. Those babies are very sharp. They usually grow up to be religious people or literary men like poets. If you carry a baby who is dull like an ox, you don't suffer morning sickness that much.

Therefore, when a woman goes through hardship because of morning sickness, she should not complain saying, "Baby, why are you doing this to me?" Instead, the more she suffers, the better heart she should possess. She should even be able to laugh about it. If she can laugh, ha, ha, ha, while she throws up, even God will watch her with curiosity. God immediately knows when something or somebody acts against the universal law. God would say, "Naturally, she should show some kind of agony, but she is laughing so hard. Why is it so?" Wouldn't He come and look at the woman and smile at what He sees or not? He might even ask her why she is laughing. Don't you think that I would give such a special woman a gift? "You are indeed my daughter." I will praise her.

Morning sickness is hard to deal with, but it also can give a woman an opportunity for God's trust and blessing." Signal, signal! Signal for protection." [You should have told us that before] It would have been much better if you found it out yourselves first. You don't think. That is the problem. That is the principle. Morning sickness is not at all a bad thing. It is a signal to protect mothers-to-be.

Women are very precious. Women's bodies are precious. They should receive love from men. Women embraces others as babies so they deserve to receive love from others, men. That is a universal law. Husbands cannot hit their wives who love their children. They must not hit them. It is simple but true. If a wife puts all her heart into her baby, even the most stupid husband cannot hit her. He should embrace his wife with love. Do you understand? God cannot hate such a husband who cares for his wife so much. When God embraces and loves such a family, the entire universe dwells upon that family. Have you ever made tofu, bean-curd? Do you know how to make it? You grind beans and put them into a cloth wrapper. Love is like a novel, everything is intertwined. Do you understand what I am saying? So through giving birth, the woman becomes a true woman. She has to be able to feel the mother's heart. (165-101)

Wait and see. The more the couple pray for their baby the better baby will be born. Just wait and see whether I am telling the truth or not. They have a strong character, too. Of the blessed families here, those who think their children have a strong character, put up your hands. Comparing your children with those from other homes, those who think their children have a stronger character, raise your hand. They have a strong character and they are smart. I arranged it that way for you. What ever way you want to look at it, Unification Church marriages are a hundred times better than marriages in the Satanic world. (79-144)

Why are the man and woman so happy when the wife becomes pregnant? God knows that the woman thinks, "I will receive love." He made them like that. And he will say, "Yes, you deserve to receive love." God created women like this. Why? For what reason? He wanted to give everything and so He trained them to give everything. When the baby is born, who nourishes it? Even though the mother gives her bones, her flesh, her everything, she is still happy. She is even happy when she starts to get fat. When she sleeps, she sleeps in this way. She is not able to sleep like this. She lies down and sleeps like this smugly thinking about her baby only. [Laughter] It is really difficult to give birth, isn't it.

After birth you have to breast feed. Before birth, the baby feeds from within the womb. After birth, it feeds from the side. The mother makes many sacrifices, that's why the mother says, "I will receive love" The more I look at God, the more I realize He is a wonderful mathematical gentleman. He takes everything into consideration. And in this we can find the logic why God created women last. God created women last! [Laughter] It is like grafting, is it not? You have to put the plus and the minus together. Because God has this kind of nature.... Because through getting pregnant the woman has stood in the position allowed by God, it is possible for her to say, "Love me." Do you understand? It is possible for her to want to receive love. It is the same thing as her saying, "If you love me, you will receive love, too. You will receive love, too. Do you understand?"

This is pretty fantastic, isn't it? Why do I receive love? It is in order to love and return love. If you want to go close to God you have no other choice than to love. So this kind of true love...... I have already said it before, but what is the universe? It is the second mother's womb. You are living in you mother's womb, now. Just as the baby takes its mother's flesh and blood we live, taking all the sap and juice out of the universe. (123-110)

3. The Birth of A Baby

1) The mystery of the woman's body

Dr. Kang, are you here? Would the size of a woman's womb be about like this? It's only this size, but how much it expands; it expands more than rubber, raw rubber. It is mysterious. It expands more than crude rubber.

They say when you are observing a Cesarean section, all of the child in the enlarged womb can be seen. How about that? How mysterious that is. (Applause) Inside, the baby does not stay still even if God spoke to him, saying, "Little boy, don't move! Stay still!" What does he do? The baby kicks and moves just as he pleases; he never thinks what might happen if the womb pops from the inside. If the child knew it was dangerous, would he move about? (Laughter) It is actually quite dangerous. A mystery, isn't it? That is why looking at a baby is such a mystery. If you think about those things, it is fantastic. We almost want to ask him, "Hey, you! How were you born?" Try think about how mysterious it is. If you were to create human beings like that, how would it be? You wouldn't be able to do it in a thousand years. (1982 June 20, Belvedere Training Center)

When man is born and when he dies, he should try to greet Heaven and greet the Earth. (1982 Jan. 2, America)

2) Birth pains

When you were born, do you recall how difficult it was when you were coming out of your mother's stomach? (No) Then, how do you teach about that? You'll know if you give birth. (Laughter) Why did God make a child to be born in this way? How easy it would be if it were as simple as talking, or as easy as eating good food, or as the scent of perfume spreads, just feeling good, opening your mouth and saying "Ha ha ha," to give birth? Why isn't giving birth like that, but delivered in a perspiring life or death situation?

Why was it made like that? This was to observe brilliant love. In terms of electricity, there is what is called a starting /motive current. Motive current. What is that? When you click on a switch, at that moment, a strong current several tens of times the power is discharged at once. In the same way, if man is in a state where everything is cut off so that he feels, "I am tired of everything, there is nothing," and he is suddenly connected, the power of love explodes with tremendous energy. It is the same logic. Do you understand? [Yes]

In such a situation confronting death where eyeballs jump out of the sockets and all things are destroyed, if a child cries its first cry and is born, his eyes open wide. All pain disappears in an instant. Mother knows that well, don't you? You gave birth with such difficulty so you can love more than the hardships experienced. In that way, you clench your teeth, undergo pain and then love the baby] You will say, "Aigoo!" Do you understand what that means? Is the pain of a mother giving birth a happy one or an unhappy one? [A happy one.] A father will never understand no matter how you describe it. A father doesn't know how much the mother went through. The father will never know more than the mother. That is why, the mother is the best when it comes to knowing the true taste of love. (1980 Jan. 20, Belvedere Training Center)

Ladies, are you afraid of delivering a child? If you ask women who have given birth, they all say, at the time of birth they thought they would die, but after giving birth, that "feeling of death" disappears in an instant. On a ship, a seasick person will vomit and thinks he will die, but once he sets foot on land again, he is immediately well. This is a similar situation. You should try to experience it. Of course, it isn't easy to spend nine months with a baby in your stomach. (1989 Jan. 6, Hannamdong estate)

3) The Moment of Birth is Pure Joy

Then, for each one of us, when is our day of glory? [Our spiritual birthday!] (Laughter) Besides your spiritual birthday, the day that you were born is your day of glory. (Laughter) By the way, if you watch a person being born, every single baby cries as soon as he is born. He wails out loud. That is the time of glory. Is that a day of joy? Have you ever thought about it?

Then, why does a newborn cry? If we say he cries because he truly feels joy, that would be a very witty interpretation. Why is that so? Inside the mother's womb, the baby could not see the mother or father's faces no matter how much he thought, "What do they look like?" Then all of his wishes came true, and not knowing what the outside world was like and yearning to see it all, it is a moment in which he jumps out into that world. He can now eat with his mouth rather than from the umbilical cord, and many other rapid changes occur around him. That baby opens his mouth which used to be closed, to eat. He begins to eat. (Laughter) How happy, how hopeful he is, and how much has he been wishing for this?

Why does that newborn cry? It's nice to think that he is filled with joy and cries. Aren't you that way as well? When people who are truly happy meet each other, tears will flow. Have you seen that before? (Yes) If something joyful happens, if you can experience a time that makes you happier than when you were first born, that indeed would be a new morning of glory. Is there a parent who would cry together when the baby cries? Parents would be happy, watching that baby cry. It is not normal if the baby doesn't cry. All babies cry when they are born. When you were born, you amazed your parents, drew the interest of your relatives and surprised all of your surroundings, isn't that so?

If you were born as the prince of a particular country, all of the people of that country would watch you, and even all things of that country would focus on you. Everyone would be watching that instant when you are born. Then, when that baby cries, the news would spread throughout the nation and the voices of joy would continue even after the baby stopped its first cry. When we human beings were born, when the original man was born in this universe, if all of creation had been observing the baby Adam and Eve who are our ancestors, would all creation have been interested or not? [They would have been interested]

That is because man is the master, the master. If all of the beings of this universe had a heart /mind like man and all would have been interested, how fascinated they would have been. It is so in this world on earth, of course, but if there is a God, and if there is a spirit world, regardless of whom, all of the spirit world and God would have focused their attention on this event. It must have been so.

In that moment when Adam and Eve were born, how intensely they would have focused, and what [tremendous] changes would have taken place because Adam and Eve were born. Within God, what changes would have taken place? For God, it became a time to feel the love of the parents. It was an occasion when He felt for the first time, love towards children, the love of a father and a mother. Try to think about that. How would it have been for God who was thinking, "What is the love of a parent like?"

When your wives become pregnant, can you feel what the love of parents is like? There is a world of difference between the few minutes before birth and after the birth. When we see this, we ask, can only God experience the heart of joy when all creation and Adam and Eve, created within the love of God, the heart of love toward son and daughter? (No, that's not so.) God would have created all things, all existing beings, all things belonging to Him to experience what is joyful to them. (1978 Jan. 22, Belvedere Training Center)

4) Reason For Being Born Head First

When a man is born, why does the head emerge first? What if the feet come first? The feet? When you look at the earth, do you want to see it with the soles of your feet? Would you want to see it from your head first? As man loves the earth, he keeps pace with it and is born from the head first, while the feet are later set down on the earth. This is to greet the earth. Greetings. As you will set your feet on the earth throughout your lifetime, you have to give greetings. (Laughing) That is true, but don't you have to greet your parents? You must greet your father and mother. Should you greet them well, or greet them poorly? [Greet them well.]

When you were born, you came out upside down, but when a spirit body leaves, it leaves from the soft spot between the bones at the front part of the head. When a spirit body is born, it is born in the opposite way. That is why, we speak about 'leaving from the soft spot.' (Laughing) A spirit body doesn't appear from the lower half of the mother's body. Where does it come out of? (Laughing) From the bottom or the top? Think about it. Where is the part that the spirit body leaves from? It is the opposite, the opposite. It is revived, and it rises. To rise up, it has to give a kick to the body to go up. At that time, the head must give the greetings first as well. When you are born, too. You must give greetings, first. Greetings. (1982 Jan. 22, America)

5) Meaning of the First Cry

Consider this. What kind of a face is a natural face? Is it an upset face, or a sleeping face? What kind of face would it be? If we think about the original, the baby giving its first cry when it is born into this world is the original appearance. This cry, why is it such a loud cry? Why doesn't it laugh "Hahaha," but give a loud cry? (Laughter) The breathing itself is done with the whole body. The entire body moves, meaning that everything is exercising. There is no better exercise than this. We look at it as the best exercise.

The first cry is a motion and exercise. After birth, there is no exercise that surpasses this. It is the beginning of new activity within the universe. How wonderful this is? The mother would say then, "You were inside for 9 months, how hard it must have been! Go ahead and cry, cry. Stretch out your legs and cry!" What a wonderful thing this is. If a baby doesn't do this, but is still, it cannot breathe. It cannot breathe.

Breathing starts because what was like this (is born) stretches its legs, so that air rushes in 'phew!' Do you think it's as I say? I don't know how it's written in the medical books, but from a natural point of view, you could see it as all an aspect of truth. Thinking in this way, the baby's cry is indeed a cry of joy, a cry of the explosion of life.

When a person cries and when he laughs, the body and mind can exercise together. When he laughs, if he does so "Hahaha" with just his mouth open, how unsightly it would be. Try laughing like that, "hahaha." When you laugh, all things work together. The nose moves, the eyes, the mouth, the ears all move. Your heart moves, the body moves, everything moves. Do you understand what I mean?

When you laugh, tears come out, and when you cry, tears also come out. Although you're feeling the opposite. Are the two far apart or close? Is it good to cry or bad? Is it a good thing to live a life of tears? (No.) From this perspective, one of the two concepts rises, while the other falls. It separates in that way. How about you? What kind of a face do you like best? [A happy face] What kind of a face is a happy face? What is happiness? All things must be harmonious-you cannot be happy without harmony. 'Won' means a circle, and 'man' means 'full.' Here is a circle that is full. There cannot be happiness unless things are that way. From that point of view, everything in the universe moves to fill this circle. (1982 Dec. 1, America)

4. During Infancy

1) Nursing Babies

Do you think the babies are in confinement or in freedom during the nine months that they live in the womb? Freedom you say? With all that bent back and constricted leg movements? Your nose is blocked and your mouth is sealed and you say that's freedom? (laughter). Try it yourself (laughter). The cord is attached at the navel for air supply. Think how tough it is to breathe. Pretty tough, don't you think? You can't even stretch your legs and you call that living in freedom?

Being born in this world is about the same as that. The fetus gets its nutrition from its mother, and we do that from our universal mother. Listen to me. See if Reverend Moon is correct by knowing what passes through the umbilical cord. What do we need for survival? Food is necessary for survival but it's not the fundamental necessity, which is love. It's love. Even the pigs show this, and it's quite amazing. The baby pigs look for their mother within ten minutes of their birth. How in the world do they know where the nipples are? They rush there and start suckling with all their gusto (laughter).

Now, who taught them? It's all automatic, it's the mystery of give-and-take collective life. The mother's love is transmitted through her milk and it goes to a place where it is supposed to go, very exactly. Even in sleep, the pigs know what they are doing. What does that mean? It means we all need automatically-internalized education. We are born on the umbilical cord but actually it's the cord of love. We are the fruit of love.

Because every birth is the fruit of love all parents must give love, which comes to fruition through births. This love connects the individuals, families, tribes, nations, the world, and eventually to God himself. No need for formal education there. Have you ever seen children born to ugly parents who refuse to nurse with them because they are ugly? Even the ugly mother is still the mother. Isn't that so? No one complains when suckling from a nipple, not if one is hungry. That's the mystery, a noble mystery right there.

2) The Task of Nursing

Love is invisible. Love is where God is. So, we respond by saying that only in love does God exist. It makes logical sense. God cannot exit without love. Why? Because man is born through love. God commands us to love because existence is based on love. Now, what is the origin of this idea? The same one-all things began with love. The eye is created by love for love and follows love. So does the nose, or the cell. People touch for love and seek those they love.

Nothing strange about this, it's the origin of all things. It's love that prompts mother and father to cuddle their baby when he is born with a terrific cry. That's love. They never scold the baby for crying at birth (laughter). Love takes care of the dirty baby when he soils and goes to the bathroom. Don't you think? Do they charge the baby five dollars an hour and record in their bankbook? [No] Don't the parents just want to give, and give some more, and some more? So what happens when they just give and give? It is all accepted in the same spirit.

Love occupies an absolute place. Because of this, men and women must bind their relationship in love. The husband must be loyal to his wife to reach this absolute place. It's eternal. It's irreversible. We must stand firm on the principle of love. Now, what happens ultimately? It is 360 degrees and zero, it's God, it's alpha and omega. What happens? It's the seed of all things. That's what the seed is. What's the conclusion, then? All things belong in the pocket of love (demonstrating). What happens when a man and a woman marry? They marry to obtain the seed. When they pursue it they get the embryo. What does it suckle from its parents? It suckles love from its parents. It suckles love from its parents, and it suckles life from its parents. It grows by suckling the body of its parents, by suckling their love and body. That's why these unloving parents in America are violating this fundamental universal principle. They must be punished.

3. Attitudes Toward Nursing

Everybody, do you want to be blessed? Want eternal life? You must merit it. Don't educate your children just as your children. You must raise your children to become offerings to humanity. When a mother nurses her baby, she must think of herself as a representative of humanity, who is entrusted with the task. You must love not just your own but someone else's children also. Those children with such love will become great leaders. If not now, maybe one or two generations later. This is the truth, it must be.

Whenever I see you nursing your babies I want to ask, "What kind of milk are you nursing your baby with?" I want to ask whether your union was blessed by God's love and connected through your love and your children are being nursed through true love.

3) The Joys of Nursing

I can't forget what my mother told me. When she was little all the uncles and cousins gathered at a wedding and the consensus opinion of all present concluded that the greatest joy in the world was that of raising children, in spite of all its attendant hardships. Why? The milk fills up when the baby gets hungry, did you know that? The discomfort is great when the milk really fills up as the breast becomes very sensitive. Only the mother knows the joys of nursing a hungry baby with a breast filled with milk.

A wonderful feeling follows when the full breast is emptied into the baby. The mother is filled with love when the baby suckles with relish. No one else can experience the whole range of emotions that converges on this act of nursing. People experience a tremendous let down when they marry off all their children, now that they cannot see them any time they want. One cannot just visit the married kids all the time. One misses them, can pray for them, pray for their blessings, that's precious, that's love... People get old. So, we begin our life with love and end it with love. That's the principle that we must follow, that stretches from this earth to high heaven.

4) Mothers' Sacrifice in Love

Parents enjoy even the diaper smell of their babies, just thinking about their happy bubbly babies, just thinking about their happy faces. That's parents' love for their children. Do you know mothers actually taste the feces? Have you done that yourself? You don't qualify to be a mother unless you've done that. Have you tasted feces? No? I have seen my mother taste the feces many times whenever one of her babies was sick. That's why I think the whole world of my mother. Okay, all the mothers here, have you done it? Haven't done it!

Try it once. Of course, some of you are too old to have babies (laughter). When you love God, to what limit do you love him? Until you love everything about God. Great hardships don't seem like hardships. The deepest valley can be the source of love. It's wonderful to see mothers stop their work to nurse their babies with milk-filled breasts. Women know the joys of this, but since I am not a woman I have not experienced them. Women are superior in this respect and I prostrate myself before them. Women are greater than men in this respect.

No matter how much I say I love babies, it's only on the surface. Can I feel the nipple being suckled away? How can I feed a baby that suckles away my blood and my fat? Everybody, did you ever like the sensation of being bitten by a blood-sucking mosquito? It's like being struck by lightning. Only love can make such a death-like experience enjoyable.

Without love, can a mother enjoy opening of her breast? No, she can't. Only the mother's love can feel the suckling baby, the peace of the world around her, not just her own person, and can forgive everything and urges the baby on to feed to his heart's content. That's how parents love their children.

You know, in some ways the baby can be looked at as the parents' enemy. A blood sucking enemy that sucks the blood through the cord. But, mothers feel new hope, new feelings toward their husbands, all through their connection to their babies. There is something exchanged there. That's something no one can understand or control.

When the mother nurses, she gives the baby her flesh, but the flesh must lodge on the father's bone. Otherwise, the flesh will whither to nothing. That's why women's emotional depth is much greater than man's. All things being equal, they say women cry three times to men's one time.

People say, let's live well and let's love. But what is to live well? Live well by quarreling every day? [No] We all know that. The answer is simple. We must live well by loving one another for God. How shall we love one another? This is the issue. Do you hate them or love them when you look at your children? You experienced ladies, answer me. [Love them.] How much?

I wish I were an experienced woman on this one. I cannot really tell even though I did a lot of research on the subject. How much? When I watch them nurse, the mother wants to feed more and the baby wants to suckle more... Why do you feed your babies, because you love them or because you hate them? That's not all. They soil themselves big and small and demand attention all night. They don't care if it's two or three in the morning, they demand to be fed. The mother is dog-tired with backaches and in deep sleep, but she wakes up feeds the crying baby. Is this from love or hate? [From love] That's love.

Love wants to give more love, never satisfied, and wanting to feed the baby even when the baby is full. One never regrets when love is given away. One feels good when the full breast is suckled flat by the baby. You experienced ladies, do you agree? This is what I have been hearing. Am I right or wrong? I bet I am right.

How can we receive love from God? There is only one love. And therefore there is one method of receiving love. I bet you would want to know about the one method. Wouldn't you? [Yes, we would.] It is right between parents and children. Would any parent discriminate among her children in giving them her love? Would she love the first born more than the last born? No parents feed their children differently. They supply flesh and blood to their children. They must supply them to all their children.

Mothers enjoy feeding their babies. Babies enjoy hugging their mothers' necks tight as they nurse. Mothers like the feeling of giving milk. There are no mothers who demand payment for this joy of giving milk. Another interesting thing is that love for babies is just the same even if the mother is ugly with her unattractive eyes, nose, mouth, and cheeks. It's all serious business when it comes to love for their babies. No one wants to be second in loving their babies, no one.

5. During Early Infancy

The newly born cannot recognize his parents. But the baby can respond to his parents with smiles. Although the baby doesn't recognize anything, the mother is just happy with the response. A psychological cord is being established through which parental love is being passed to the baby.

Everybody, have you seen any baby embarrassed by his accident? The baby feels no embarrassment with his accident and just smiles at his mother who has to clean up the mess. Isn't that sweet? (laughter). Love makes this all possible. Only love does it, do you understand? Love sees nothing ugly or unsightly, and can conquer everything.

Now, everybody, we started out with infancy. It's the time of pride. Wouldn't you feel proud of the baby that just emerged from the womb? Yes, you would be proud, even of the baby's first cry. The proudest is the mother who has given birth to the baby. Right? The baby kicks, the baby cries, that's all the more reason to be proud of your baby. You are proud of the baby even if the baby can't talk. Just proud.

The mother says to the baby, "Okay, my son, grow up, grow up strong" as she exhorts her baby. Exhorting, how? Even when the mother is dog-tired from her low-paying factory job, even when she has to clean up the baby's mess, she is still proud. The baby is a happy baby if he has a proud mother. Don't you agree? [We do.] Everything, all things...even the small insects are proud. Even the inorganic things. All things in the universe are like that. They are all proud.

1) Childhood

Children desire to go back to the comfort of their parents. All of humanity desires this as its basic makeup.

There are stages in child-rearing. The tender precious years are followed by crawling, then walking. Then learning to use the spoon. Then the child recognizes the approvals and disapproval from his mother. Sometimes our baby Kookjin, when he was about one, would not come to me when coaxed. Then he breaks into a big smile when he recognizes that I am pouting. That's when I knew he was really clever. Children can tell your moods and react to them appropriately.

All of you ought to watch children grow to be school age. They soil diapers, then crawl, then walk, still struggling and stumbling, then fight with their siblings, crying and screaming. That's education. That's growing up.

Then they learn to talk. When they first learn to say, "Daddy," they don't know what that means. They don't know what they are saying when they say, "Daddy." They keep saying it, eventually realizing what that means by habit. It's amazing to watch them learn to speak, learning things like abstract nouns. It would take an encyclopedia to explain how it takes place but they just learn it.

Children only need parents. Why would they need anything else? Would they need money? Power? Self concept? Only the mother's breast. That's all...Nothing else. All I care is the mother's breast. All my education is my mom and dad. The first thing we learn is speech. The first speech we learn is to say, "Momma." First Momma and then Dadda. That's one's first property. That's how we become one with our parents, through this property connection. All begins here. That's why nothing else can be acceptable.

Today's children grow up differently from yesterday's. Things change. Things change, including speech patterns. Children like toys that spin, move, go up and down fast. They get excited. Get very excited. You know, when they get excited their eyes, minds and spirits all become one with the body. The things children play with, something as fast as a train. What do you call it? Roller-skates? Is that what they are? You know, the ones that slide up the wall and down the cliff-they seem to like those quite a bit. Don't they? [They do.] The principle is the same.

Children today seem to like insects, baby monkeys, small fish, and the like. Why? They like to watch them grow, learn to love them, and like the idea.

You must be as a child. Children's self concept requires a generalized approach. Children want nothing but their mothers. There are no other desires. They only think about their mother. Their whole life, whole sensors, whole cognitive system are centered around their mothers. It's the mother at all times, before and after nursing, all the time. That's why you must be as a child. That's how you can sleep as if you are in the arms of your mother and father even when sleeping alone. That's how it works.

2) Parental Influence Until 20

Parental love prevails until the age 20. This is love's preparatory period. One receives parental love until 20. After that, one leaves the parents' love to establish one's own marital love. As marital love gets stronger, their love for their children gets stronger. That's the way it works.

Loved from birth...Loved by the parents while in the womb. Mother and father love the child. For 9 months, touching the baby... Loving when he is born, then until he goes to school... Until college, now how many years is that? Twenty years. Or is it 22 years? 6 years, then 3 and 3, that's 12, and then college. How many years is t? Sixteen years plus kindergarten, that's 18 years. That's the parental sphere of love... Parents always feel, even with all their love for them, that they have not done the best, or not as well as someone else's parents, and feel the pain of inadequacy.

You don't understand it until you have your own children. Parents never sleep comfortably when they are separated from their children. You must realize how great your parents have been with all their tension, stress they lived with because of you. That's love. So, when you are over 20... it's moving into a different stage of life.

Can we arrive at the place of our heart's desire all at once? Because we cannot do that we must not rush blindly, but steadily recover the ground we have lost whenever we backslide. There are no two ways about it. Now, then, What is our fundamental self, fundamental place? We should have been born as God's direct children.

If we had been born as God's direct, incorruptible children, then our love would have reflected that ancestry. Growing old from childhood to middle age, then decline, our whole life, can we say we have lived within the sphere of God's love? After the fall of man, we cannot say we have been living within the sphere of God's love. That's within God's power to reject and outside God's domain to protect. It's not within God's ideal sphere.

You must establish a connection between the church and your children before they turn 20. In other words, you lose them if you do not anchor them while they are still in middle school and high school. That's straight from our church statistics. They will drift into society if you don't anchor them with the church by the age 17. This is a serious matter.

6. Need for Family Education

1) Reasons for Correct Child-rearing

Without the fall, the family should consist of men and women who are God's true sons and daughters. They are one with God. Men and women must become one, whole and complete. Couples do not exist just for themselves. Children need parental education. They must be prepared in all things.

The children wanted by God who can live in Eden must be sons and daughters of universal character. They must be qualified enough to have dominion over all creatures.

2) The Fall of Man Requires Education

Education is necessary to save humanity. Education is necessary. Man's ancestors fell because of ignorance. I will be brief since you already know about the Principle. Adam and Eve remained ignorant as they moved to take over the dominion of this world. As they were growing up they had not understood God's teachings. They fell not because they knew what it was, but because they didn't. Our ancestors didn't know the path of righteousness so that their descendants cannot surpass their ancestors in this knowledge.

We have had many great historical figures and religious leaders, but none has been able to provide the correct path that God had taught. No religion, no philosopher, no statesman, has been able to illuminate the path. Because of this, our history continues the heritage of our ignorant ancestors, deviating from God's principles. This is what I see. So, we must educate the ignorant humanity. This is a problem. A good education can restore God's knowledge but a bad education has prevailed. That's our current state.

Because of the fall, we need a messiah. Without the fall, we would not need one. Because of the fall, we lost our God. Because of the fall, we lost our basic human character. Without the fall, we would have retained the basic knowledge of God. But this is not the work of God, not the work of God. That's the condition already established for us. We need no more. If we were one with God, there is no knowledge lacking in our midst. We would not need any education dealing with the fundamentals of man.

What is the basic problem of man? It's food. Then survival. Then, after the two are taken care of, love emerges. Have you learned how to eat since you have been born? We were born with the natural ability to eat. We must eat. When our mouth touches something we naturally want to eat it. Therefore we naturally seek to fulfill more than eating, surviving, and loving. We should move from these goals, onto the world of solid feelings, then onto the world of solid values in order to avoid the fall.

However, because we have fallen, everything is in reverse. We must make right what is in reverse. When a baby is born, he comes head first, his buttocks last. This must be reversed. We look like humans but we are not. It's our dilemma, all because of our fall. Therefore we must struggle against this fall concept. What must we realize in order to reverse this state of being? Controlling the fall concept is more important than wanting a messiah. We must fight the fall concept. Our strength gets stronger as we increase our struggle.

The individual is a product of history, as are the family, the nation, and the world. Among all the products, how large is the product of good? How much good has the world produced altogether? I want to know. In your own environment, what percent consists of good? In your own personal character, what percent consists of good? I want to know. When we consider how much evil and how good there are, we recognize that good is surrounded by evil. There is no education needed to do evil. It's easy to do evil, no education needed. Our history began with evil so that no one needs to learn to do evil. Do you need to learn to do evil? We need to learn to return to human morality and the dictates of conscience as our standards. What kind of education? Even with one that centers on good and on conscience, how many of us live up to the standards? Anyone can do evil without any learning. Anyone can pass that course.

Do we need an education for evil? Don't we? No need to learn about evil. No need to teach to do evil. If you just leave them alone, they naturally turn evil. Just follow the body and evil takes over. Isn't that so? [Yes] Hey, you grandpa there, if you follow your body, is that good or evil? [We become evil.] No, you can't even think about being good. You surely become evil.

3) Family Education Through Religion

Did Jesus have a family he could love? Did Jesus love his mother? No, he couldn't. Did he love his father? His father was a step-father. Did he love his brothers? He couldn't love his brothers. Whom did he love? As the epitome of love, Jesus wanted to love his mother and father but couldn't. Because Adam and Eve did not learn about love, Jesus tried to teach his mother and father how to live in love. But his mother and father did not listen to him.

To teach love, one must transcend Judaism and the Bible. Because Jesus came as the representative of God, for the father, for the bridegroom, for the brother, Mary's household should have treated him as God's representative. Jesus should have addressed to Joseph, "Hey, you Joseph!" as Joseph was not his father. He should have addressed to Mary, "Hey, you Mary!" as Mary was not his mother. They should have received education from him. Did they accept the education?

From a human perspective they were father and son, but from heaven's perspective Jesus was Lord, God's representative, they should have followed his education on the ways of love. Jesus should have taught his parents, his brothers, and should have told them about the kind of woman for him. Did Jesus give that kind of education? Does it say so in the Bible? It's all about empty rhetoric on how go to heaven.

Historically, Koreans are similar to the Jews. Koreans are the Jews of the far east. Korea was the reason for the Sino-Japanese War, as it was for the Russo-Japanese War, and the War of the Pacific. Korea is the thorniest problem of Asia, as it is the most talked-about country at all international meetings at the United Nations. Isn't that strange? But through all these trials and tribulations, Korea has not disappeared. The Korean people are excellent as individuals. They are as good as anyone one-on-one. But their parental education was poor. Since our real father failed in educating us, we must be educated by a step-father to create a great people. That's the task of the Unification Church.

What does religion teach? Does it teach you to eat, drink and be merry as the body dictates? It's getting more and more difficult to teach the young as time passes.

Heaven is made up of heart and soul, not a kingdom of religious theories or religious denominations, just heart and soul. Why is God seeking people and holy persons? It is to make sons and daughters. What kind of sons and daughters? The kind of sons and daughters whom God can take into his confidence and confide in them how he feels.

4) The Limits of World Education

We live in a world full of uncertainties about learning and teaching. One can learn evil very easily. Nor can one rest his mind easy. The Communists are everywhere, right next door. One can get into a wrong argument, with a terrible consequence.

People up to now have taught their sons and daughters so that they can have a good family life. That's all in reverse. Our days are all turned up side down. We must achieve good heaven, a good world, a good nation, and a good society to achieve a good personal life. This principle has been turned up side down because of the fall. People say, "If I can live well, then my family can live well, then our society will live well," which is all in reverse. It's all up side down. Heaven looks at this kind of world and wants its humanity to end this up side down way of thinking. "To revert back to restoration, you must beat your bodies," it says. Christianity has been persecuted because of this insistence, as have been the Christian family, the Christian nations, and the Christian world.

What use is there in today's American educational methods? You must cut off everything at the root, must cut off everything, cut off everything completely.

What is it that the American young follow in pursuit of their individualism, their self-interests? Its pragmatism, and this philosophy of profitable life must be completely, 180 degrees, reversed, turned the right side up. What happened to a nation once based on Christianity? This is not the work of God, but of the Satan who plays with them. Do you understand what I am saying? [Yes] I also understand that you have been getting the individualistic education in America and have grown accustomed to the self-centered way of life, and all this makes your work very difficult.

As I travel across America I feel revulsion about living in America. I also feel our children should not be educated in America at all.

5) Goodness is the Purpose of Education

People everywhere want to be good and hope to be good. Don't our teachers stand behind the podium and teach, saying to their pupils, "You must become good Koreans in the future"? In the same way, we teach students in middle school, high school, and in college to be good people as the purpose of education. There are absolutely no good persons who live for their individual self. What kind of education, what kind of moral standards do we have in Asia? For the attainment of good.

Many people don't understand that goodness brings its reward. But, we do understand, however difficult, the importance of moral beliefs as the purpose of our education and the goal of the humanities? No. But, why not? We prefer the higher plateau of perfection to our low fallen position. Heaven cannot educate us all in one-to-one teachings so that, through education, it teaches us indirectly and symbolically. We must recognize that the teachings tell us to be good and do good.

What is good? It is the locomotive of progress. Therefore we must give. Give what? Not the rejects, not the hand-me-downs, not the leftover foods. We must give our lives. Not only our lives, our only true love. This is parental love. For this, we at the Unification Church try the parental love, working like slaves, sweating for the earth, shedding tears for mankind, and bleeding for heaven.

6) The Most Important Lesson

Why do you like Reverend Moon when you meet him? Why do you feel that way? You feel that way because through him, more than through your husbands, your national leaders, your other teachers, you feel you get closer to the heavenly principles. It's not his human accomplishment, it's just the way of truth. Love must precede education. There was love before the Creation. That is the truth. All things, including the humans made up of all things, want to return to God's love. That's the truth.

All of you are like that too. Which do you prefer, to die in God's love or to die without it? Which do you prefer? [To die in God's love] You will choose to die in God's love.

So, do you feel confident about dying in God's love? [Yes] Raise your hands if you believe that. If you believe it, your flesh and blood will be the flesh and blood and energy sources of your people. The same principle, isn't that so? All good leaders want to die for love.

What is the most important lesson to teach in education? The most important lesson is: "If you have to die, die for love." This lesson is more important than a degree from Harvard University. Do you understand what I am saying? [Yes] What do you think we the Unification Church should do? What do you think we should do? "Let's die for the highest love, the love for God and humanity," that's what we should do.

The movement was put into motion, and the direction set, for this purpose. Men and women were created for this purpose, fathers and mothers began everything for this purpose, sons and daughters began everything for this purpose, everything in the universe was given as a gift of love for this purpose. This is the only lesson there is in our education. There is no more. If you live by this principle, you will stand firm before God without shame. Do you understand this? [Yes]

Now, God is in heaven, an ideal heaven. Who can live in heaven close to God? One who is like God himself. If God says love your enemy, then the person who does everything to love his enemy is the one who sits close to God in heaven. How is it, isn't that so? [Yes, it is so] Don't you like that? How about that? (laughter)

Looking at it this way, what is the most important lesson in education? What is the most important cultivation of mind? In all education and the cultivation of mind, we must learn and cultivate to love the enemy. That's the only conclusion. Patience in Chinese character consists of a dagger above a heart. Did you know that? That's the meaning. If you want to accomplish a large task, you must endure the dagger hundreds, thousands, and millions of times.

7) Rearing, not Bearing, is More Important

Parents shouldn't be overjoyed that they have a son. They should worry about how to rear him as a worthy son. Only then can they say they understand heaven's principles. It's wrong just to bear sons without this understanding. One should worry as to how to make the son worthy of and useful to his nation. If one wants a son for his nation then everything begins from the nation. This is very important. Are you now standing before God as his true sons and daughters? Then you are free to move in any direction, east or west. You are moving horizontally and are progressing on the plane. Then you can reach the goal no matter which direction you take. Then you will do well either in school or at work. It's all right for the person to go to college as long as he keeps his correct bearing. It's all right for him to have a job with his correct bearing. Various styles and directions come to the same goal, although it may appear that one is not moving on a straight line.

You all recognize how tough it is to raise children. Children are your flesh and blood. They shed tears if their mothers shed tears. They lament if their fathers lament, all in one mind. It is tough to raise these children, however. When we look at it, we realize that we are not God's children. We simply look the other way when God sheds tears. We simply shrug when God laments. It's because we have inherited the Satan's flesh and blood. Rather, we rejoice when God laments. We laugh when everything is in ruins. Think about the labor that God must endure to guide and reform this humanity. How can God work through human history if he cannot find the hundreds, thousands, ten thousands that would lament along with God?

You think Reverend Moon's way is sure to bring about his ruination. No, his is history's splendid way. I have been persecuted and chased by the world, but who is the successful one? All those who persecuted me are dead now, and all the foundations that I laid are now coming my way. You've seen the movie, "The Ten Commandments" where the sea is split to allow the Israelis to cross, and you know it matters not whether you are on this side of the sea or the other, because blessings come across the sea, even across the Pacific Ocean. They come looking for their rightful owner. With this much evidence, do you think your teacher Reverend Moon, the fighter, is on the verge of ruination? "No," You must teach your children well. Why do I say this? Because we must teach the tradition centered on the Abel family.