Chapter 17
The Source of Father's Words

I'd like you to know that Father's word is not created in his mind and then spoken by his lips, nor from the books he learned. I have been listening to Father for such a long time, but I've never heard Father repeating exactly the same story spoken by the saints, philosophers, scholars or theologians of the past. Father has not studied theology, but he is at home in it.

Father gave us the answers through the Bible for the basic problems that the theologians have never solved. How is this possible for Father? When you learn Unification Thought, you can fully understand how well and accurately Father has explained a question which philosophers couldn't solve until now. Think about why Father can create and promote the ICUS. He doesn't have any doctor's degree. How can Father gather the Nobel Prize winners to hold the ICUS? In Japan we proposed an open discussion on TV with the Communists. How can this kind of thing be done? When did Father learn all this knowledge?

There are many spiritualists in Korea -- Christians, Buddhists, Confucianists and from various religious groups -- and they hold meetings. In Korea to believe and talk about the spiritual world is thought to be a kind of superstition and very unscientific. This is what we are taught at school, too. But in society it is quite common to see the highest university graduates visiting spiritualists to forecast whether they will be elected as national congressmen in the next election or not. And they base their decision to run or not on this. They visit spiritualists to ask about marriage, business and how to be successful. So there are spiritualists behind politicians. Is it the same in this country? (Not so much). But even in this country there were spiritualists beside the kings around the time when kings ruled this country. They were the religious people who worked as counselors to the kings. The words of spiritualists were accepted as truth.

Even though it is believed that religion and science are opposites, the politicians tend to rely on the words of religionists. Do you know astrology? Astrologers can tell us our destiny and they attract people. People visit them when they are facing a difficult problem. There arc many spiritualists who were given the revelation, "You are a Buddha," or "You are the Second Advent." They can cure disease and also see the spiritual condition of their visitors. Some of them have made a lot of money. The presidents of big companies hire spiritualists as counselors.

We have our spiritualist who leads a meeting of spiritualists once a week. If you attend it you can see very interesting things. The spiritualists are all proud of what they have achieved; for example, some of them have cured incurable diseases. They don't listen to each other. Each thinks his or her opinion is absolute. Yet they all listen to the spiritualist of the Unification Church. They respect our spiri- tualist whom they acknowledge as their leader. How can this be possible?

When we were refugees, Father told me what would happen in the future. Father speaks to us according to our level of intelligence and spiritual growth. One day Father spoke of the ideal world, which gave me a picture of a bright future. Another day he spoke of the severeness of this society and how to deal with it.

When we have watched Father's activities we have the impression that he has an invisible plan which he follows. I'll give you one example: there was a time when we couldn't witness well and Father said that in the next October many people would join the church. And his words came true. I can compare Father to a person who is teaching the changes of spring to summer to autumn to winter to those who have never experienced four seasons. He says. "If spring comes, summer is not so far. In summer many flowers will be in bloom and it will become hot and you can't wear thick clothes any more." Father knew what would happen in the future, but he didn't speak definitely about it in the early days. We didn't understand until it had been and gone.

We have to take time to think how we can make God happy to the bottom of His heart and how we can make True Parents stop worrying. Some members tried many things for that end, applying the Principle in their own way. Sometimes they made mistakes. Father teaches us what we need. Members are different in their growth. For example, some have the same spiritual standard as those before the Old Testament, others as those in the Old Testament and others the same as the New Testament people. It is difficult, or rather impossible, to teach them in the same way.

Father gave members personal advice as well as general teaching. Normal hours were more important than the time of the Sunday service. At the Sunday service he taught, for example, what God's heart was, a very basic thing, or how Jesus was lonely and sorrowful when people didn't listen to him even when he came with God's words. But the listeners received this on different levels and so Father had to give personal guidance. Father gave short personal guidance which was exactly appropriate to each member during their daily life or when taking them out to the mountain. I had the opportunity to climb famous mountains thanks to Father.

Nobody could climb faster than Father when he was young. He spoke about various topics on the mountain and members' problems were solved one by one. Father listened very carefully to their detailed testimonies and made them sing many songs. Even those who had never sung in public were told to sing and trained to sing in front of many people. Father made everybody sing. If he found a member had a favorite song, then he sang and loved that song more than the member. Father remembered well who liked which song. When a member was wondering which song he should sing because he was embarrassed always singing the same song, Father told him the name of his favorite song and asked him to sing it. As Father remembered and loved each member's favorite song more than the member, the members thought that they themselves were also remembered and liked by Father. So they could trust him completely.

It is the same between a loving husband and wife. If the husband likes something that the wife doesn't like, she makes an effort to get to like it because her beloved husband likes it. If the person you respect most is left handed, then you also want to write with your left hand. If he wears a red tic, you also feel like wearing a red tie. Is it true? (Yes) It is because there is a desire to become like a person who you respect.

We want to follow a person who is much closer to God than we are, because originally we were created to follow God. That Father likes and sings the song which I love, means that Father likes and loves me as well as my favorite song. If you, as leaders, love what a member loves, he will rely so much upon you. In this way Father taught us many things about personal relationships. Father says: "Look at your face in a mirror", then he gives us some interesting advice: "You look most beautiful when you look up"; or "You look more beautiful if you smile in this way." You must know that your slightest expression of face, or your way of sitting, your various small gestures and so on, will give a good or a bad impression to others without your knowing it yourself.

Among you there are many members who should change their facial expressions -- it is true, I tell you. For example, Mr. A has very nice ideas, but he has a cynical expression on his face; Mr. B always has an anxious expression. Your expression differs when you look up, or down, or straight ahead. You will get a different impression when I speak standing upright, from when I speak approaching you like this; between when I speak with a smile, from when I speak with a solemn face.

Father is very familiar with expressions of man's looks and behavior. I had a habit of smiling when I talked, even with people whom I met for the first time and even if they were foreigners. I was thought to be an unpleasant person and was misunderstood because of my smile, especially by a foreigner with whom I did not have a common language.

Father told me people would make light of me if I spoke with a smile at the first meeting. Then he told me to divide my hair on this side; at that time I had my hair divided in the middle, and l liked it very much. Father gave such minute and sensitive pieces of advice regarding brothers and sisters. He usually gives this kind of advice only when they are alone together, and in a calm voice.

We shouldn't dislike each other; we are gathering here because we like each other. If you don't exchange words all day or all year, how could you say you have gathered here because you like each other? When we behave according to Father's way, we come to like each other and can say anything to each other. It is pleasant to listen to a good singer? but a had singer disturbs our heart. Father listened to even a bad singer and made him sing many times; then he could sing with a good feeling, even though his singing was not at all good. Some people sing with a deep expression which fits the verses of a song accordingly. Father thinks this heart is precious. Father listens to the young, to grandfathers, to grandmothers and anyone. In the early days of the church Father mainly listened to people who were over 60, who looked like Father's friends. In the next period, his main object became the middle aged people, and now it is young people like us.

When Father gives us advice like; "Live for others", or "Leaders should be like this, or that", he has already practiced it and got a victory over it -- this I'd like you to understand well. This is an answer to the question of where could Father get his words from.

Father started using the word shinjo (meaning "heart") around two or three years before 1960. There are many similar cases. We usually speak out all we know, even to a newcomer. We even say things we ourselves have not yet understood. We should not speak for ourselves, but for our listener. Therefore we should say only those things which make our listener come closer to God, which deepen our listener's heart toward God, thinking of his or her situation. If not, we spiritually damage the listener. You can't say: "I took time to talk with him till late at night; I don't know whether that which I spoke was all good or right. It was not my fault that he was damaged; he is to blame." Even though you give nutritious food to a child, it might kill him if it is too hard for him to digest.

It is a serious sin to speak about something, even if it has a good content, at the wrong time and when a listener has not grown up enough to accept it. The love of Adam and Eve became a sin because they shared it when the right time had not yet come, even though their love, had it come at the right time, would have been good. Sometimes your spirit goes down when you hear bad rumors about the Unification Church. It happens because you hear it at the wrong time. Then the person who spoke about the rumor must take the responsibility. A speech should be given for the listeners, not the speaker. So when a speech damages the listeners, the speaker must take the responsibility for it. I'm giving this advice so that you can give a speech appropriate to the listeners. You should give a speech after you have understood the listeners. The speech should differ according to the type of person who is listening.

As a conclusion to today's speech, I'd like to give you one of the reasons why Father speaks about something after he has overcome it. God's word must become your own; the reason why God gives us His word is to make us one with it. The first man who was given God's word couldn't become one with it; God gave the blessings to man, but man couldn't make them his own. God gave love to man, but he couldn't become one with it. What's the purpose of God giving His word or blessings to man? It is for man to become one with God by making him first one with His word and blessings.

If you become one with God's love, you can give that love to many people. When you become one with God, the source of love and truth, you can give God's love and truth infinitely; however much you give, they will never diminish. Therefore, to become one with God is most important.

We may give and give and still not become one with God; in fact, the more we give the more empty we become. Why? When we accept God's word, we need a period of time to become one with it. The stage of understanding is not yet the stage of uniting; it becomes yours when you start practicing the word. You practice it once, twice, three times and gradually you become united with the word.

We usually start speaking the word at the level of the understanding of our mind before the practice. Before you tell others to practice the word, you yourself must practice what you've understood. You must understand it with your mind and practice it with your body. When you learn how to skate, you first get an explanation and next you practice it. Then you know what skating is.

Father's words are given to us after he has overcome. He first gets a victory over something and examines many times whether the same result comes out if he follows that word and, then, if it does, Father gives us the word as his word. Father doesn't tell a story he has heard from others; he himself gets the word by his own victory. Therefore he can give the word once, twice, a hundred times and still he does not become empty.

We get tired speaking the word which is only understood in our mind. What you say can revive people's minds but not their lives. Here is a difference between Father and you. Suppose Father and you say the same word: "Live for others." Even though the words are the same, the impression listeners get is different from when Father says them and when you say them. It will be different from when you say them and when your members say them. Please don't forget there is a period when you make the word your own.

However long you've been in the Unification Church, if you have not practiced the word, you will get no joy; you don't understand the true value of the word. Who do you like better: a person who speaks much or a person who speaks little but practices much? You like a person who loves you truly even though he doesn't speak any words of love, better than a person who speaks much about love but practices none.

When you speak, please don't speak out all you have in your mind. If you have 10 things to say, please leave out three of them. You must have had an experience where you became empty after you spoke to others. Those who have not spoken to others would not know this. It is true that we have felt empty after we spoke to others. If you give all you have, you have nothing left in you. When you have much in your mind you must be very happy. Suppose you had ] ,000 and gave it all away. How would you feel? You must have been happy when you gave it away, but now you must feel empty. It is the same thing. Father taught this: if you give all you have, you become empty and then you have to fill up again. You pray in order to revive yourself. Then, at that time, you need a foundation on which you can revive yourself.

If you leave something inside even after you have spoken, you can multiply it through a prayer in order to fill yourself up again. When you make money, you need capital to start with. We need to use money as a seed with which we can multiply the money. It is all the same. Therefore you should keep something inside, even after you've spoken.

Saint Paul saw the vision of Heaven but he didn't speak about it for 13 years. After 13 years he spoke about it for the first time. Can you guess why? If he had spoken out, everybody would have come to know about it, and h; is experiences would have had no precious value. A jewel is precious only when a few people have it. If everybody has the same jewel, it will have no precious value any more. When he saw the vision of Heaven 13 years earlier, he was so impressed, but he didn't tell it to anybody. When he went out witnessing, he got a lot of severe persecution. When he was almost pulled down, he always thought of the vision of Heaven and pulled himself together. He got power from it and became victorious over witnessing.

Saint Paul spoke about the vision because he had got even more precious things than it. You must have a better experience than that which you are teaching. If you teach without having a better experience, you'll become empty and will have to ask others to give you strength.

God gives a blessing which we should share. First we should make it ours and then we must give it to others. Then all people will come to have the blessing. But when you don't make a blessing your own, yet still give it to others, who again give it to others, then the blessing doesn't belong to anyone. As a result, everybody becomes empty. Who is waiting at the end of the line? Satan. All the blessings which nobody can make their own, go to the bosom of Satan. God gave His word and blessings to His beloved, but man couldn't make them his own. As a result, all the blessings were taken by Satan. All of them. Do you follow me?

When you teach or tell God's word to brothers and sisters, please always remember that you must have a period of time when you make efforts to become one with it first. By embodying and practicing the word, you can understand its value by yourself. You can understand God's heart, His personality and His word. Sometimes the following happens in the Unification Church: Mr. A witnesses to Mr. B, who becomes a good Family member; then Mr. A leaves the church. This means that Mr. A conveyed the word but didn't make it his own and he left the church. Mr. B made himself one with the word and remained in the church.

I'd like to conclude today's speech here. Thank you very much.

Return to the index of the book Father's Course and Our life of Faith, a biography of Rev. Sun Myung Moon by his first disciple Rev. Won Pil Kim.