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In a family the son who is to inherit all the belongings and traditions of his father must have similar characteristics. Tradition establishes a certain way to live for each generation, and generally speaking, traditions are often formed in a time of great turmoil and upheaval. For instance, a country may face a crisis in which one wrong move could cause it to perish, yet by trying hard to go the right way the country is saved. This gallant moment becomes a priceless inheritance of that nation.
The traditions and the belongings of the ancestors and then the parents are acquired in a similar way. For instance, parents go through much difficulty to accumulate property; their son must be willing not only to go through the same difficulties they did but even more if necessary. If he has that attitude then he is the one who can inherit what his parents have accumulated. It goes without saying that with this attitude the son will not spend the inheritance for himself but will spend it for the sake of the entire family.
With this perspective we look at the many nations of the world. Among the countries there may be one which has inherited the tradition which all mankind is to follow in the future. God is seeking a nation which He can reveal His tradition to, and He will nurture that civilization according to His intention and plan for the future. Thus there must be a country through which God is manifesting His tradition. All nations must look for this one nation and for the tradition God wants.
Because mankind fell far away from God, He established religion to bring mankind into a close relationship with Him and then to bring man to the same level as Himself. God chooses an individual and then raises that person's position to shorten the distance between that person and Himself. Then the world can become one with this person and live in the tradition that God desires.
The purpose of religion is to bring all families and nations to a way of life that coincides with God's desire for the world. Yet as hard as he may try, man usually drifts away from the way God wants him to follow. Oftentimes men forget that their tradition is somewhat different from God's. Each nation tries on its own to establish some traditions but it is easy to see that each nation has yet to find what the heavenly tradition is. God is seeking a nation to go in the direction He originally established, but the nations actually go in many directions, some even going completely opposite God's way. The countries that are the most advanced or civilized are likely to be those that go the farthest from where God desires them to go.
A country which is going opposite God's way must turn completely around and go back to the original point and then for the first time go in God's direction. The nation which is going in a direction which is 359 degrees different from God's must turn completely around in order to reach God's original point; it can't just turn one degree and start out right for the first time. Each country has its own tradition and boasts of how good it is, but if it is still far from what God wants it to be, the country must somehow do away with its own accumulated tradition and find the absolute way.
According to religion these are the last days. There are powerful and developed nations which were founded on good ideals for which many men suffered and gave their lives. Yet in these times will even those nations retain those original good ideals and be able to relate them to the tradition that God wants? Probably they will not. Regardless of the past suffering of its citizens, when God looks at such a nation is it good or bad? Can God accept all the traditions that each country has made and start His work directly on that foundation? If a nation has not been able to maintain its original good tradition then God will have to break everything down, even the things that people consider most precious. Only then can God implement His own will.
The time must come when no one is concerned about himself, his spouse, or even his own country, but rather wants to give all his attention to God. This is how God would want each nation and individual to feel in the last days. The young and the conscientious people in the world will be pushed by God to question and to look for the heavenly direction. They won't be able to trust their families or even their nations to provide a guideline, and they won't know where to turn. Certainly God will help and encourage each person to become this way rather than to be settled and content with his life. God will inspire each one to wander and seek to find the correct way.
As it is in the external environment, so it will be with religions. Each religion was supposed to center on God and go in His direction, but along the way each one deviated in order to fit into its external circumstances. Since religion is always influenced and molded by the background of a civilization or nation, it is shaped according to the needs of the situation. In the last days, however, God will push religions to search for the way He wants them to go. If God exists with us then He would certainly work in such a manner that He could eventually bring all mankind into His tradition. How can God lead men into the tradition He wants them to follow without making these things happen?
Were the English to question whether their great country is going the way God wants it to go and whether the Anglican church is leading the people in the right way, most people would easily recognize that somehow their nation has deviated from the way it should go. Until we are sure that God approves, we cannot be sure we are going the right way. Anglican church leaders may get together and vote on what is the right way, but no matter what they decide we cannot trust in their decision. Could God's will be changed to correspond to their decision? Certainly not. God's will cannot be adjusted. God's will and man's will are completely different, and instead of consulting with other men a person must search for a different way.
What are the last days? One way of defining them is to say that they mark the time when the finding of God's way is of paramount importance. In the last days, people must search diligently to know the direction God wants them to take so He can work through them. Doesn't it look like these are the last days?
What is the tradition that mankind is searching for? What tradition has God left for us? Since mankind is not going God's way on his own, God is working very hard to reveal it. Does maintaining that direction sometimes require going different directions, or is it the same direction from beginning to end? History has been going in one direction and the direction of the future is only an extension of that. God has been consistent in the direction that He wants man to go.
God always looked for one ideal man. Does living in the ideal mean you can do anything you want? Or is it a way of life which conforms completely to a firm principle, after which one is free to do as he likes? What is an ideal train? The first requisite for an ideal train is that it does not travel freely over any terrain but always stays on its track, going quickly and smoothly forward. It is the same with man.
The meaning of "way" is very crude in the West, but in the Oriental and especially the Korean concept it is defined very precisely. There are certain ways in everything. There are specific ways a man has to go and ways that a country has to go. God has many ways for each thing to follow. For instance: a university student doesn't develop his knowledge in any random way he likes; he has to follow a certain course of study that has already been developed.
As I said earlier, there is certainly a way the chosen people must go. It is not just any way that they select; there is a certain way that God and mankind expect them to follow. What tradition would God want? It is the one way that the ideal man would follow. The common man has no idea what the ideal is or what way he should follow it to be an ideal man. When the ideal man is thinking about spiritual things, he realizes that there is only one ideal way to go, not 360. The odds that he will find the right way, however, are 1 to 360. Each of us must have a clear realization about what is the one right way, but in any group every person always has a different idea about what that right way is. When God looks at a group He usually sees that each person is going in a different direction. At most only one of them could be going the right way but probably none of them are. Ideally speaking, each one of us must go in the same direction.
Some people will say that the ideal is having clothes when you are cold, having food when you are hungry and resting before you start to work. What I want to point out is that there is one way the ideal man must go, and the ideal way of life never deviates from that. Perhaps you are going a certain way because it is comfortable or you believe it is good, but if someone tells you it is the wrong way then you have to turn around and make adjustments, even if it is uncomfortable for you.
We are all in the same church, but every individual stands in a different position. On his way here every person came from a different direction, and the precise way for each person to follow is still not clear. A chestnut is round but has many burrs pointing in all different directions. As a group we are like this chestnut, but all the burrs should be pointed in the same direction.
Reversing one's direction involves tremendous turmoil. It is very difficult and uncomfortable and conflicts with your desires, but you have to make this bold adjustment in your life nevertheless. This is what all religious men must do and this is the situation we find ourselves in. The conditioning of old habits and customs is a dreadful thing to try and change. For example, you have acquired certain eating habits over the years and completely changing them would be a very difficult experience. I am accustomed to eating rice, kimchi and other spicy foods and it is difficult to change to a completely different diet. One American IOWC member worked in Japan for two years and ate the same food the Japanese members ate. Even though Japan has many of the same foods that you find here in America, the minute this member returned to America the first place he went was a McDonalds! This is how strong custom is in our lives.
Even though God shows man precisely the right direction, do you think man will automatically go the right way? Even though He is pointed in the right direction, he wants to go his own different way every moment. His old customs will drag him this way and that, in directions that are completely different from the way God showed. In order to make sure he stays on the right way, he has to deny himself the things he is accustomed to, like sleep and familiar food; he has to make himself overcome many obstacles before he can maintain his course, but once he can do this all kinds of things will begin to happen in his life. A certain amount of time is needed before he can continue on this way without great effort.
When a person has little status, making this change will not be so hard. Nothing binds the poor man. He has nothing to eat, so when God says, "Eat this kind of food," he is only too happy to go along because he never had anything before. He is not bound or accustomed to anything. What about someone from a first-rate nation which everyone else admires and looks up to? Those people who enjoy the highest privilege and standard will find it even more difficult to change and conform to a very definite way. It is hardest to follow a new way once you have enjoyed the best of everything. The Bible says that it is more difficult for a rich man to get to heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Certainly there is nothing wrong with having property and money in the bank, but the man who has everything and is content with his life the way it is will have the most difficulty changing himself.
It is easy to see which people will most easily find the new way in the last days. Those who don't worry about old traditions or customs but who are serious about finding the way God expects them to go will find it easiest to live in the new way. The Bible constantly reminds us not to own things but to give them away and live for others. This is what Jesus taught and is the example he lived. He knew that it was the last days and he taught the people that it was absolutely necessary to forget the old ways and to live the new ways.
What are Unification Church members expected to do? This is the church which is to unify everything around a certain standard. Even after coming into unity with God Himself you will still have the same two eyes and nose and mouth. Are we going to make our two eyes into one? Our two ears into one ear? Is that the unity we are going to make? God will have one way or tradition for unity to be set up, and once it is done, even if a man drifts away it will be easy for him to return. God wants a tradition that is so strongly established that it is easy for people to return to it. The Unification Church is expected to live this tradition.
I never do anything out of whim, but must thoroughly check everything with Principle first. Before I give any instructions I have to make sure that everyone can come that way. Without doing this, I cannot unite people. Even so, the man who is accustomed to going along a path which leads through thorny bushes can go that way any time, but the novice will have much difficulty, inching along little by little.
What is the tradition that God wants? It is that of the one ideal man through whom God wants to establish the path so clearly that everyone can follow it. After this ideal man comes into existence God would next want an ideal woman. One ideal man needs one ideal woman, and then God would want them to have sons and daughters too.
When two or three people get together they often get in each other's way because what each of them wants is different. Wouldn't it be easier for one ideal man to remain by himself where he can do anything he likes as long as it is part of God's way? Mr. Orme taught me a Cockney expression; when a man refers to his wife he calls her "my trouble and strife." Does a man who talks like that love his wife or not? What can he do about it? If you have a new baby and a one-year-old, you aren't free to sit down and entertain yourself in the evening. What's so good about that?
Fighting to a moderate degree is normal when you are growing up because it stimulates you. A cub or kittens play around and sometimes get into a serious fight, but after a certain time they stop and go back to their mother. That's normal for growing up. Inside a train going full speed down the track there are many things happening-a child is crying, someone is eating, one person is going to the toilet. When these things are going on, the people are not always conscious of the train moving; that is more normal than the passengers always being conscious that the train is moving and remaining fixed in their seats.
It is also normal for a man to have a wife and children and possessions. Imagine a world where there were only women. In fact, where there are many women in one place there is always trouble and strife. The concept of the "worst possible thing" is expressed in Chinese characters by putting together three characters for "woman".
Normally a man needs a wife and children. Is that all he wants? We need neighbors and a town in order to live normally. If one woman looks good with blonde hair, is it true that every other woman must have blonde hair to be beautiful?
We frequently talk about "true" things, but what is the truth? It is a relief to exhale after holding your breath, but no one wants to exhale all the time.
You want to take air in as well, but just taking air in all the time is painful and even fatal. Both aspects of breathing are "true." When a man walks about on a cloudy day he doesn't have a shadow, but when the sun is shining he has a shadow with him wherever he goes. Both situations are "true." The man who protests against having a shadow follow him everywhere is silly. Because of his particular viewpoint, even that which is true looks deviated. The truth is there all the time but what is "true" changes according to his perception.
Before a young woman gets married, she often wants to be left alone to dream about nice things. She doesn't like anyone else, even her parents, coming into her room. After she is married she opens her door to her husband; then the truth is for her not to lock her door. Both are truth for her.
For me, the true way involves uniting the races, bringing people of all five races into harmony. I am really struggling to find the way to do that. Do you think it would be easy, or would it be a big headache? You can never know how much of a headache it is, but do you still think it is an ideal thing to do? Even though it involves much pain, making that harmony is a true and normal thing to do.
Is the love we talk about sweet all the time or is it accompanied by pain many times? Without doubt it is good, but sometimes it is sweet and sometimes painful. When we can finally harmonize our love we find that we are surrounded by the ideal.
What is an ideal person? Is he the one whose nerves are so sensitive that he explodes for the slightest reason? No. We certainly cannot call a girl who jumps at the slightest touch the ideal person. On the other hand, some people are so dull that they don't mind if you completely forget them and don't respond to them. The ideal person's sensitivity is harmonized so that even if people poke at him he can persevere for a long time.
Who is the ideal player on the soccer field? The one who likes the ball the most is the one who loves to control the ball the most. The most ideal player loves the ball but loves to kick it the hardest. The ball will say that the ideal player is the one who loves the ball the most, but also who, when the time comes, can kick the ball the hardest straight into the goal. The ball is happiest and proudest when it is flying toward the goal. The ideal has nothing to do with just being comfortable; it has to do with fulfilling a purpose.
Westerners have high noses but if Oriental women had such high noses no one would want to marry them! God made Western faces more slender, even frail, while He made Oriental faces rather flat. Why is this variety ideal in the sight of God? If a surface is wide and flat then you don't have to worry about a pitcher of water falling off; then for that purpose it is more ideal than a small round surface. Similarly, the ideal match will unite a person with a high nose and narrow face with a person who has a broad face and an almost flat nose. To God it would be the most ideal match and He would keep following that couple to see how they live together.
Everyone is looking for the ideal because they don't have it yet. We don't have the ideal because white people like only white people and never think about other races. Black people don't worry about having harmony with white people. Not only that, even people of the same race sometimes fight with each other. Once the ideal comes, however, people will stop looking for the ideal.
In Scandinavian countries I saw many people wearing white coats. Is it true that Scandinavians don't like other colors? If they do like other colors, why don't they like people with another skin color? If they like only white then a world where everything is white should suit them fine, but certainly it is the ideal to have all different colors harmonized.
I could talk on this topic all morning. The different peoples each have their own ideas about what the ideal is. There is no limit to the imagination, but God's ideal is not dictated by imagination. Imagination helps in understanding it, but imagination has no place in defining it. When God establishes the ideal it won't necessitate following a narrow, confined path. In the ideal you can go anywhere you want, but if it is required of you, you are able to come back to the narrow path.
In the ideal you might have an enemy but when eventually you meet him again in a different situation and you take a second look, he doesn't look so bad. Then when you meet him a third time you come to like him. In the ideal you are not enemies forever; there is harmony everywhere you look and nothing permanently offends you. Everything you see is good and the more you see it, the better it is because it harmonizes so well.
A British gentleman is supposed to have certain manners in eating, dress and conduct, even to the point that when he wants to laugh out loud he can't! That's not the ideal; when you want to laugh, you can laugh to your heart's content. When you are really feeling good you can make all the noise you want. Don't you agree? In the ideal world, if you want to stick your knife into your meat to eat it with one hand there is nothing wrong with that.
While we are still training ourselves, however, we have to be very rigid and precise in what we do. When God created all things He had to work according to a rigid law. For instance, water never flows from a low place to a high place. God has to uphold every law initially, but once the creation is complete God is not bound by the law any more; He can go anywhere and do as He likes.
You were very joyful when you joined the Unification Church, but as the days went by you discovered how much indemnity there is in this life. First you found out about indemnity on the individual level and then you discovered indemnity on the family level, which is even more complicated. Then there is indemnity on the clan and national levels. It seems as though there is no end to the indemnity and that you will be going door-to-door forever.
Can we say that the Unification Church likes indemnity? Actually our purpose is to put an end to indemnity. Everyone goes to school but not many people like having to study for tests. In the Unification Church, though, we work to complete everything in the shortest possible period so we can graduate. You might even have to stay up all night studying so you can pass. If we were students we would study for three exams a week instead of just one, as ordinary people do. We don't want restoration to take years and years so we work our hardest during this time and then we will be free and can graduate from indemnity.
Working in London might take a long time, but if working in Africa would take a shorter time then by all means we should go to Africa and finish quicker. If you walk instead of riding in an automobile, you can pay more indemnity. Perhaps by eating only one meal a day you could pay three times more indemnity than if you ate three meals. Then you might prefer fasting and working to pay the indemnity more quickly. We don't like indemnity but we don't mind it because our purpose is to get it over with as fast as we can.
In following God's traditional way are we following a certain rigid law, or following our usual customs? We actually do this out of love. We follow the love which even within one person is connected to the universe and all people. Love is a law itself but it is much better than law. Where does that love begin-from man or from woman? Do you have a bag to collect your love in and when it is full you are ready to be married? Can a small person love only in a small way and a small woman be entitled to love only a small man? A person who looks like she doesn't have much love might actually have very much love inside. Potentially love is everywhere and can be in everyone.
It is extremely important to realize that love does not exist for the individual. There is no such thing as love for the individual purpose. Love is for the common purpose, not for the individual. How strongly everything is connected together is a measure of how great the love is. Do you all love me? I can't see it anywhere. Even though you direct all your love to me, we cannot have a great love until we have a common objective and purpose; centered around this common purpose we can have a great love. The word unification implies that everyone has a common purpose to share and center around which is bound by love. That's the place where God's tradition is directed. It is easy to understand that God will visit and want to stay wherever there is a common purpose binding people together in love.
Why did God make each person with two eyes? Wouldn't it be more effective if each eye could look in a different direction, or better yet, if we had one eye on each side of our heads? However, the two eyes go in the same direction, moving together in harmony. Motion with the same rhythm, direction and movement is the ideal. If you watch a person's eyes moving, you will see that they work together with precision. You feel uncomfortable to see a person squinting all the time, or rolling their eyes in opposite directions because it is not harmonious action.
Within the Unification Church there are many different varieties of people speaking different languages and having different shapes and habits. It is striking to see that all these different people are moving in the same direction, much different from even other groups of more similar people. Our diverse mixture is directed toward one objective, which is what makes us strong and significant.
When subject and object unite in perfect give and take, God will reside with them. According to Oriental custom, when someone who is your superior gives you something, you always receive it with two hands. This gesture expresses your receiving it as his object, completing the harmonious give and take. The instant you do that, the interaction becomes an object to God, the highest being. God does not give with two hands because He has to give with one to Adam and one to Eve. The superior person gives with only one hand, but the person receiving should receive with two hands.
Orientals have always been sensitive in this way but Westerners don't even think about that kind of thing. For example, when Westerners come to hear me speak they sit down and spread themselves out, even leaning back on their hands with their legs sticking out in front. They never think anything of it and it is so innocent that I sometimes laugh. I am sitting in a mannerly way so I look even smaller than I am, but the big Westerners stretch out and look even bigger.
No object is bigger than its subject. The man is subject and he is bigger than the woman, for instance. Is there any species in which the female is bigger than the male? Does any man want to marry a woman bigger than he, or any woman want to marry a smaller man? Everyone agrees that they don't, but they don't really know why. The reason is really simple-that's the way everything was created and intuitively people know it.
The first thing Oriental children are taught is how to sit and behave when they come before their parents or anyone of superior position. They will sit in such a way as to shrink as much as possible. Big people really have a hard time with this, but it is courtesy for them at least to shrink mentally. This courtesy is a very important thing in the Orient. In the West you greet each other with handshakes, which are horizontal actions. Westerners tend to express courtesy in a horizontal way.
When you return to your original position, women should never try to be bigger than men; this is one thing they must strive to keep in mind. Women are bigger in only two aspects-in their bosom and hips-and that is for the sake of their children, not themselves. They should never be proud of having a bigger bosom and hips than men. I have to emphasize this for Western women because they have an uncontrollable tendency to try to act bigger than men.
Does love originate from man or woman? The fall originated in a woman's trying to take the initiative in love. You should keep in mind that the subject should initiate love. Should the woman follow the man or the other way around? Who follows whom in the fallen world now? You men should have the unswerving confidence that you would never marry if no woman followed you.
Will a hen crow, or only a rooster? Why is the male the one who makes a big noise? It is the male whose mind moves first in a great and far reaching way. The cock expects all the hens to follow him and his crow is his statement of this. The hen has hardly any voice, more like a cluck instead. The cocks are very dignified and brightly colored while the hens are inconspicuous and because of the male's bright colors it is easy for the hens to find him. If the cock was meant to follow the hens then they would be more brightly colored. The pheasant is the same. You have a hard time finding the hen but the male is so brightly colored that he is easy to spot.
Now you know who is the subject. Will God with all His love go out looking for people to give it to, or should people come to God to receive love? Did God create Adam or Eve first? Would the man or woman have been the first to experience love? The history of love was to have started with man, not woman. If you follow the rope of love, the first thing you find is a woman, then a man and then God. In this way you can know that love originated with God, then flowed down to man and then to woman.
Nothing was built without reason; there is always a law and explanation behind everything. For example, both man and woman have hair on their heads, but a man has it on his chin as well. Why is that? The beard connects to the hair on top and it forms a complete circle. This symbolizes man's resemblance to God, who is round and full. Women do not have beards since they are to be like a shadow of their subject. It is always the case that a woman's value is determined by the value of the man. A woman can be very insignificant, but if she is married to the president of the country then she is treated with the same respect.
In the West you say, "She got married," but in the East they say, "She went to her husband's house." Does a husband go to live in his wife's house with her family? That is the exception to the rule. In this view a woman is like an extension of her husband. You probably think this seems to devalue women, don't you? This is the way God made things and you must accept that women are the weaker sex. Even though I speak strongly like this to Westerners, both men and women want to follow me and are thankful. You don't mind when I speak like this about women?
How are subject and object different? The subject is responsible for 360 degrees; he should stay in the center and not go back and forth from point to point. Am I the subject or is the Unification Church subject? Should I go here and there or stay in one place, even though the world is racing about? Even if my life is at stake I will bear down and maintain this position. The object has 360 degrees to choose from and can move around. In dance who moves around the most, men or women? Wouldn't it be more stylish if the man moved around more than the woman? No, it would actually be a strange sight. Even dancers follow the law of creation; by standing firmly in one place, the man is in a better position to face in all directions.
When you say your father is the center of your home, you are saying that he is responsible for all the activities and affairs of the family. With some exceptions in the West, who is primarily the center of the family, the man or woman? Does the father or mother go out to defend the home from invasion?
In addition to that, the management and education of the children are the responsibility of the father; he must take care of all 360 degrees.
When someone makes a mistake in the Unification Church will people say, "That person was bad," or will they point to me, regardless of who did the wrong deed? All accusations come to me because I am the subject and the one who is responsible overall. If I say I want each individual to be responsible instead then I cannot be a leader. I am always in that position.
God's love comes first to the man and then to the woman. If the man has the left hand of God then the woman has to go around and have His right; the man holds God's left with his right hand and the woman holds God's right hand with her left. That's the only possible circle. Once it is complete there is no difference between them because they are all one. That's the way the whole universe operates, starting on God's left and then coming around full circle to His right.
Before becoming one there is a distinct subject and object, but once there is perfect unity there is no subject or object; they are one. This even includes God, who is subject of all. God and man and woman are one and are no longer separate. No one can deviate from this formula or tradition. Even though you drift away and live as you like, you must come back eventually. It is always men who inherit the works of the household, not the women.
When the parents hold hands with God, whom would the children hold hands with? With the world. Daughters go to another house when they marry. They do not return but stay there, forming a larger circle. The son stays in his house and takes responsibility there. In this way a household gets bigger and bigger.
The daughters-in-law come from outside of your home while the sons-in-law live outside of it. But even though one stays outside and another comes into your home to live, they are all part of one big family circle and contribute love just as your own sons and daughters do. That is the ideal of family love, all connected to the same love as the parents. The sons and their wives and the daughters and their husbands are connected on either side and the whole becomes one harmonious family, the ideal.
Even though a household would like to keep its most valuable things to itself, half of its most valuable components come from the outside. Parents can't call their in-laws strangers and never mingle. Instead, with time those in-laws come to be as much a part of the family as the original children. In this way everyone is to be connected. If someone objects and feels this is not right, it means that he can never let his son or daughter marry.
Why should one have to receive a total stranger from outside his family, loving him as much as one's own family? Love is the very force that causes this and all harmonious connections are made through love. Through the same love everyone has a common objective and purpose. When parents receive a newcomer to marry their child, they must remember that this person also has his own home and parents. A daughter-in-law must always be aware that her husband is supposed to receive the love of his family and she must follow the same path as her husband. Since his parents love her husband, she must love them in the same way, as well as the rest of his family. She must love everyone who loves her husband; then she becomes the ideal daughter-in-law. In return they must love her to the same degree that they love him. In this way the ideal family is formed.
Any wife who objects to having all these relationships is in the wrong because she is preventing love from making a complete circle. By denying that love she is cutting the circuit and then because of her others must do without love. It has tremendous adverse effect on others and for that reason she is a bad woman. Tremendous resentment will be directed toward her and her in-laws will try to change her mind so she can be a conduit of love. It may be good to resent her in that case because she is the one who upset the whole balance of the universal tradition, and because of their resentment she may correct herself. In that sense their hostility may be a good thing. Since she is blocking the flow of love she must receive the blame and pay indemnity to mend the whole thing.
It takes a great effort on my part to educate Western women about this because they are not accustomed to this daughter-in-law concept. Most of them want to live apart from their in-laws and not be burdened. What about the future daughters-in-law of the Unification Church-will you welcome all your in-laws and become the key person to create the ideal, or will you choose to have only a small family? This is the first time I ever heard Western women say they want to be daughters-in-law in a large family!
Perhaps you won't mind your in-laws as long as they are young and can take care of themselves, but what about the grandparents who can't move around and must be waited on? You may even have to bring them to and from the toilet like babies. Would you prefer a family with just grandparents, or one with great-grandparents as well? Why? Isn't it more comfortable to have fewer people to take care of? If you can embrace and love many generations in your husband's whole family then the circle of love becomes worldwide, embracing even spirit world, and your love becomes more meaningful. In this way the whole universe becomes filled with love.
The daughter-in-law who really wants to live with her in-laws will be right at the center, but the one who dislikes it will live off to one side and her world will be very small. Who should you love the most- parents or grandparents? You should love the grandparents even more than your own husband and his parents. The grandfather is himself plus his offspring, so he is actually bigger than his son and grandson. The grandparents should feel that the more sons and daughters they have, the better. The more they welcome everyone, the more enriched in love they will be. If they limit themselves and don't like their children's husbands and wives then they cannot be a harmonious part of their family's life and must stay away. This would be the most painful thing of all.
Is it more fortunate to have many or few sons and daughters? Once your family is harmonious, the more you have, the better. But if they are always struggling and fighting and there is no hope for having oneness then the fewer children you have, the better. This is why the tendency now is to have fewer children. It also signifies that people are saying they will settle for a smaller love.
This morning we have been thinking about what tradition of love God would want to set up. Logically speaking, this family love is the only tradition of love God could set up. Is any better way possible? Is the present standard in the West the one which God was anxious to set up, or is it only one big headache? Westerners are very individualistic and there is no place in the ideal world of God for that characteristic. Although self-centeredness is widely accepted in the Western world it is vastly different from God's way of thinking.
Since God's desire is to set this tradition and I am united with God in that, how can I be welcomed by the Western world? Only after hearing an explanation from the very beginning can Western women understand the way God wants and see that it is the only possible way for them to adopt. Those who came in the middle of my talk can't understand why I say this.
The more you hear the more you learn, but it is difficult for you to carry out what you learn. Nevertheless, you have to do this so all of heaven and earth can come into your possession within your love. If you carry it out you will have more of the ideal and be much happier.
Since every family will have half of its members coming from outside, loving these "outsiders" means you will widen your love to include the world. Since the new person in your family is loved by his parents and also by your own child, you too must love him to complete the circle. You will rejoice with this new family as well as with your own, loving your new sons or daughters as much as the children you have been loving for many years. This is the ideal family, and that is exactly how God is.
You don't have to wait until you become an in-law yourself. You know what it is going to be like, so when you meet an old man or woman you can love him or her as much as the grandparents they remind you of. Since we all have a common ancestor, this relationship will eventually connect the entire world. If you meet some middle-aged people who are around the same age as your parents, then you think, "Since I feel this way towards my parents, I should feel the same toward these people." Or if they are the age of your elder brothers and sisters, or the age of your younger brothers and sisters then you can love them as much. If you feel the intensity of love toward others as you do in your own family you are an ideal man or woman. Having such men and women as His children is the maximum that God could expect.
The inevitable conclusion is that there is no other way than this tradition of love. God has felt this way all through the past and He would like to pass it along from generation to generation. This is the one tradition of love God would like to establish for mankind for the past, present and future. When God can see you living this way He will be completely happy and never want anything more from you. Once you accomplish this you would never want anything more from God either. This is the highest possible ideal.
We have spent years learning the morals and ethics that direct the path the chosen people must go. Those people will make up the chosen country which will perpetuate the tradition of God's love. Those people will be more determined than those of any other nation to work out this purpose and tradition. When this ideal is realized can there still be borders between nations? Will nationality matter? This tradition of love is the solution to all man's problems, without exception.
When the chosen people live that kind of life on earth, they will be loved by everyone and everything. Absolutely no one will detest them. Being loved by everyone and everything is the same as being loved by God because if a person is loved by everything that God created, God Himself must come there. This way of love is the path the chosen people must go.
Fund raising and witnessing are part of this part and in these activities you move from one area to another, picking up what is there and carrying it to another place to set it down. That's what you are doing all the time in your busy schedule. There is a play called "Kismet", which portrays a beggar who diligently begs alms from the rich. A heavenly "beggar" has a sense that his responsibility is to send many rich people to heaven by persuading them to give alms to the poor. He doesn't care whether the rich know why they should give things away to others, as long as they do it and can go to a good place in heaven. Getting donations from people is most difficult, but once you move their hearts they are very generous, and by doing so they receive blessing.
A beggar begs to survive, but we have every other reason to beg but that. What we do may look the same but it is very different; in some sense we are related to beggars, but our nature is completely different. The money we raise goes far away when it is sent to Africa, Asia, America, everywhere. Money does not travel in vain; spiritually it is like a necklace circling the world. In the southern mountains near France and Switzerland our members go fund raising house to house and they send that money all the way to London to be spent in a country that in the past was an enemy of their homeland. Is that good or bad?
I am considering buying a college here. I have been there seven or eight times already, as recently as yesterday. Every time I go there I learn more about the place and have more ideas about how to use it. There is no reason for you to be tired from your work. When you are tired it is because you have forgotten why you are here, but once you remember you can't be tired.
Nothing is easy for me; you might think otherwise, but in reality things are most difficult for me. I am always encouraging you to witness and fund raise and I put out more effort for you than you do for other people. If you are begging for a certain amount, then I am begging on an even larger scale. If you really understand this then you will feel better than you have been. Since we are centered on God's principle and purpose, everything we do contributes to the realization of the ideal, bringing it closer and closer to reality. When we are absolutely sure that this is the way and there is no other meaningful alternative, then there is nothing we cannot forgive.
Now you know what kind of God our Heavenly Father is and what He is doing. He loves and welcomes whoever is doing what He wishes. That is the way everyone chosen by God must go. It is the one law and way of life every chosen man must follow.
Are you going to try to do that or are you still just thinking about it? Those who know for sure what we are to do and why. raise your hands. Let us pray.