Understanding
Life and Death
Sun Myung Moon
December
18, 1998, Washington, DC
President, Family Federation for World Peace
This
speech was presented at the International Religious Foundation for World Peace
conference, December 18, 1998, Washington, DC.
We
live in the physical world, but we know that this is not the only world that
exists. There is also the spirit world. The spirit world is a definite reality.
We also know that these two worlds-the physical world and spirit world-are not
meant to be disconnected from each other. They should be linked together as one
single world.
We
human beings, who were born from the spirit world, eventually return to that
world. In Korea, we commonly use an interesting idiom in reference to death.
When someone dies, we say, "he has returned." To where does he
return? It is not to a cemetery. We mean that we return to the point of life's
origin. We return across the vast expanses of history. In the process, we shed
our nationality. We return to the world that brought forth the human ancestors.
If a Creator exists, then we are returning to the world of the Creator. That is
where we originated, so it is there that we finally return.
The
universe is engaged in circular motion everywhere. For example, when the snow
melts on the mountain, it forms a small stream. As it flows down, its volume
increases until it becomes a river. Eventually it reaches the ocean. From the
ocean it evaporates, completing the circle by returning into the atmosphere.
The School of
Life
All
beings desire to reach a higher ground, a better place, through circular
motion. Where, then, is the better place we go to live eternally? While in the
physical world, we live in our physical body Our mind, though, is headed toward
the eternal world. We are born into this world, and we pass through our teenage
years, our twenties, thirties, middle age, and we eventually reach old age.
Ultimately, we come to the end of our lives, just as the sun finally sets on
the horizon. Those who know that the spirit world exists, however, know very
well that the time spent in our physical body is relatively short, and that the
world we face after we die is eternal. They know that our life on earth is a
period of preparation for the eternal world.
We
are like students who must earn credits in all our classes so that we can
fulfill our school's requirements. The school determines the extent to which
its students meet its standard and decides whether it can recognize them. The
further a student's credits fall short of the standard, the more removed that
student is from the school's standard of value. In a similar way, the value of
all beings is measured against a standard. Our life in the physical world is a
period of preparation comparable to the time a student spends trying to earn
good marks at school. In other words, we spend our entire life on earth
preparing and striving to make good marks. We live each day of our life
centering on a measurement. That measurement is in accord with a particular
standard. We are accountable to that standard for our entire life on earth.
The Unity of
the Spirit World
Most
people in society do not know with certainty about the original world where we
go after life in this world. They do not know whether there is life after
death, or even whether God exists. Eventually, everyone goes to the spirit
world. It turns out that the spirit world is a single realm. It is not divided
into many countries, as is the physical world. Then, what is it like in the
spirit world? We can compare it with the water that serves as the environment
for fish. Water is an absolute condition for the fish to live. That doesn't
mean, however, that a fish will spend its entire life in one place. A fish that
lives in fresh water cannot spawn if it remains in its river. It has to leave
the fresh water and come into contact with salt water in order to lay its eggs.
It thus passes through two worlds. In the same way, our mind, part of spirit
world, and body, part of the physical world, must be interconnected.
At
the beginning of human history, a realm of global unity should have formed in
honor of Adam's birthday, the anniversary of his holy marriage and the
anniversary of his death. Then humanity could have united as one people by our
sharing in the commemoration of those days. Instead of dividing, humanity could
have lived in a single realm. If this had happened, then Adam and Eve's way of
life would have passed down through human history. The culture formed would
have endured as long as human beings continued to exist.
The Value of
Hope
Each
of us goes through life ignorant of when we will die. We do not know that we
won't die in a traffic accident. I think some people will die saying, "Oh,
Reverend Moon was right!" expressing regret only at that moment. We need
to know that we are travelling a very serious path in life. We need to use
every second of our life to prepare ourselves for the eternal world. We should
be aware that we are standing on such a fateful path.
When
people go to spirit world, they can be divided into two general types. The
first comprises those who live out their natural life in this world, and the
second comprises those who experience an untimely death. Among the latter, some
die as a result of punishment and others die in order to pay indemnity for the
nation or the world. Suppose God established one person in a central position
with the value of a thousand people. What if God made that one person go the
way of death in the place of those thousand people?
In
such an instance, the grace and virtue of the one who died in their place would
move the hearts of the thousand people. They would determine to live for the
benefit of that person, model their lives after that person, and live as he
lived. If they did this, the thousand people would enter the same realm of
grace as the one who died for them. The reason we try to follow the philosophy
of patriots and model our lives after wise men is that we desire to enter the
same realm of grace as these people.
Some
people live with hope while others live without hope. We can divide people's
hope and aspiration into two general types: that centered on human beings and
that centered on Heaven. A newborn infant thinks that his mother's bosom is the
most wonderful place in the world. At a certain point in its development,
however, the child leaves its mother's bosom. As the child grows, he or she
forms friendships, thinking himself happiest when he is with his friends.
Eventually, though, the young person will leave his friends behind. During our
life course, we come to discover that neither loving parents, nor a loving
spouse nor even loving children can completely satisfy our hopes.
People
have many kinds of hopes. Eventually, all these hopes pass away We have hopes
for our family, hopes for our country and hopes for the world. But the reality
is that as we grow older, our hope grows weaker. Some people boast that their
hope represents the hope of all humankind, but find they lack the conviction to
pursue it at the sacrifice their life. People fervently entertain many hopes
during the course of their life. But when they face death, they abandon all
their hopes. They desire to stay alive one more day. Day after day they wander
in search of something new in which to place their hope. When they finally face
death, though, all their hope fades away and they fall into despair as they set
out on their final path. We know all too well that this is true.
Viewed
as an individual, it may appear that a person possesses worthy aspirations. But
no individual hopes live beyond death. In my view, it is important for all
people on earth today to give serious consideration to one question. How can we
find hope that will not collapse in front of death, but will transcend it? All
things of this world will pass away Our families, nations, and even the world
itself will pass away Ideologies and philosophies will pass away What is it
that remains? Whatever remains, that is the hope that can defeat death.
We
can consider a person who does not possess such a hope or aspiration to be
defeated in life. There are people who, from the time they are born, reject all
the hopes and aspirations of the secular world. These people embrace
aspirations not of the human world but of Heaven, hopes that are eternal.
Heaven helps these people. A life of faith does not embrace any aspiration that
exists on earth. Instead, it embraces the hopes that surpass even the gates of
death. It dreams of the world of eternal hope.
Overcoming the
Fear of Death
Someday
I, too, will die. When we are young, we don't think much about death. But we
become increasingly serious about death as we grow older. This is because death
is a gate through which we are inevitably destined to pass. But what happens to
us after we die? Do you know why I am talking about death? I talk about death
in order to teach the meaning of life. Who really knows the value of life? It
is not the person who is going all out to preserve his life. The only person
who really knows about life is the one who goes into the valley of death. He
confirms the meaning of life as he desperately cries out to Heaven at the
crossroads of life and death.
Why
do people fear death? It is because they do not know the purpose for which we
are born. Those who do not know why we are born do not know why we die.
Therefore, the first questions philosophers ask are: "What is life? Why
are we born?" If we think about it, we realize that when we die we are
reborn into the midst of God's love. But in the human world, people cry out,
"Oh no, I'm going to die! What am I to do?" They make a big fuss. Do
you think that God laughs, "Ho ho ho!" when we die? Or do you think
God cries out, "Oh no!" and is overwhelmed with sorrow? The truth is,
He is happy This is because the moment of the physical body's death is the
moment we experience the joy of leaving the finite realm of love in order enter
the infinite realm of love. It is the moment of our second birth.
Then
is God happier on the day we are born into the physical world, or at that
moment we leave our physical body behind? At that moment, we are born a second
time into the realm of the infinite expansion of love. We become His new
children through death. Of course, God is happier at the second birth. I am
telling you this because you need to know that you cannot have a relationship
with God unless you are released from the fear of death.
Our Two Births
It
makes God happy to watch and directly take part in our life. Consider how a
baby is born and wets its diapers as it begins the process of growth. God is
happy because as the child grows, the pulse of love that is in God's heart also
grows. When God makes a face, babies imitate Him and make the same face. When
God smiles, babies also smile, and when He is sad they also are sad. This is
how babies gradually grow to resemble God. As babies grow, they also begin to
resemble their parents. From their parents, they learn language and the rules
for daily life. Of course, all these things have their origin in God.
So,
after God has lived with us on earth and goes, whoosh, over to the other side,
what are we supposed to do? If we say, "Wait, God, I want to go with
You," will He reply, "Who are you? I don't know you"? Is He
likely to leave us behind like that? Or will He want to take us with Him? Of
course, He will want to take us with Him. But when God says, "I can't take
you with me now. I'll take you with me after you have grown a little more. I
want you to work a bit more on your perfection," we can reply, "Well,
we can't go now, but we are certain that there will come a time when we are
able to go." Then we can wait for that day.
In
our physical body, we are unable to follow God wherever He goes. It is only
natural that we would aspire to resemble God. On His part, God also would want
His sons and daughters to resemble Him. We must conclude, then, that God
designed us to be born again into a body that enables us to resemble Him. God
and human beings long for that eternal day when we can soar through the heavens
together. The day we are born as beings who can take wing with God, the day we
are born into that body, that is the day of our physical death. On that day we
cast off the physical body like an old coat. Then, should we welcome death or
fear death? The answer, of course, is that we should welcome death.
For
what purpose, then, should we die? We should die for the sake of God's true
love. That is the love whereby we seek to sacrifice ourselves for the benefit
of others. We can conclude that the reason we cast off our physical body is so
that we can participate in the realm of God's work of love. We die for the sake
of the world of God's love.
Wouldn't
you like to be born as God's real sons and daughters, who can receive and
practice true love? If we could measure God's wealth, how rich do you think He
would be? Have you ever thought about that? With all those stars in the
universe, isn't it likely that there is one star that is a solid diamond? How
about a star of pure gold? God is truly omniscient and omnipotent. Wouldn't He
want His children to have everything? What do you think? God can go from one
end of the vast universe to the other in an instant. Is this something that you
would find interesting to do?
To
gain that ability, what do we need to do? We must keep the laws that God has
established for us. Only when we do so is it possible for us to be with Him. It
is impossible if we just behave any way we want. Are you confident that you can
refrain from doing what God tells you not to do? Human beings have a dual
structure. The mind is the subject partner and the body is the object partner.
It is necessary that the two become one, with the body subordinating itself to
the mind.
Three Stages of
Life
We
go through three realms that correspond to the stages of formation, growth and
completion. We go through the realm of water in our mother's womb, then the
realm of the planet earth, and finally the heavenly realm of floating in air.
We go through the period in the water of the womb and are born into the world.
We live in our physical body in this world for about a hundred years, until we
enter the world in which we fly through the air. We pass through these three
realms.
When
a fetus is in the womb, it resists leaving the womb for the outside world. It
fights as hard as it can to stay in the womb. The reason is that when the fetus
leaves the womb, its home is destroyed. All its nourishment and everything else
it had in the womb breaks apart and flows away. Also, its head and body
increase in size during the birth process. Who would want to go through
something like that? Every fetus cries, "No!" right up to the moment
of birth. Eventually the water breaks and the infant follows soon after.
As
you watch a woman give birth to a child, you really have to feel sorry for her.
Women who have given birth know what I am talking about. When the mother is
pushing, it makes no difference how beautiful she may be. Her face contorts
into all sorts of strange shapes. She makes such terrible faces that even her
husband can't stand to watch and leaves the room. She makes just about every
possible face. So, the mother, too, goes through tremendous pain up to the last
moment in order for the baby to be born.
After
birth, is it necessary to leave the umbilical cord connected to the baby's
navel? Or is the umbilical cord chopped off without a second thought? Maybe
someone should object, saying, "That cord is someone's lifeline. How can
you cut a lifeline that connects one human being to another?" The newborn
infant, too, cries at the top of its lungs because it thinks it is about to
die. As God looks on, though, He can't help but break into a happy smile. From
the viewpoint of the new life that has just been born, one world has just
disappeared completely. Now it must breathe the air of its new world.
A
child is conceived in the depth of water. The period in the womb is a period of
existence in water. As long as the fetus is in its mother's womb, it is
floating in water. At first thought, you might think the time in the womb would
be difficult because the fetus cannot breathe. You would think that it would
need a process of taking in and sending out water. This function is fulfilled
by something like a hose attached to the baby's belly How does a fetus in the
womb receive nourishment? It receives nourishment through its navel.
For
the child in the womb, the navel functions as a mouth. So, we should not be
disdainful of our belly buttons. Give your belly button a little rub and say,
"Hey, belly button.
Thanks
for working so hard back then." If you pat your belly button often, it is
good for your health. No, seriously. It's a good way to exercise. It's good for
your health to exercise your belly button. For example, a person sleeping in a
cold room can avoid coming down with diarrhea as long as he keeps his belly
button well covered.
The Breath of
Love
We
can refer to our belly button as our former mouth. Someone might say, "How
foolish. Whoever heard of a former mouth?" There's no denying the fact,
though, that your belly button once functioned as your mouth. The belly button
also acted as a breathing apparatus. Your present mouth fulfills that function
here on earth. The function has moved up on your body. The same function is as
necessary for the spirit self as it is for the fetus in the womb.
The
spirit self is attached to the physical body that lives on earth by breathing
air. It lives off the physical body until the body grows old. Then the spirit
self kicks the body away and tries to separate. If at that moment, the body
cries out, "No, I don't want to die! I won't die!" how will God
react? Will He feel sorry for the physical body, because of the pain it is
enduring? Or will He quietly smile?
The
child who experiences pain in order to emerge from its mother's womb grows to
become the object of its parents' love. In the same way, our spirit self must
leave behind our crying physical body in order to be born anew as the eternal
object of the God who is a spiritual being. This is a conclusion based on the
Principle. On earth, too, the baby can become the friend of its father and
mother after it is born. This is because it is born into the physical world
where it can share love with its father and mother. In the same way that the
fetus swims around the mother's womb, life on earth is breathing and living in
the swaddling clothes of air. Only when the baby shares love with its mother
and father as it breathes air can we say it is alive. In the same way, we can
share love with God our Parent, who exists as an eternal spiritual being, after
we are born again into the spirit world.
What
kind of place is the spirit world? When we enter spirit world, we begin to
breathe through a hole on the top of our head and through our cells. The air in
spirit world is not the air we have on earth. Instead, it is love. When a
spirit person breathes, he or she inhales and exhales the nourishing elements
of love. On earth, eating alone does not sustain our life. When we eat and
drink, all we are doing is filling our sack with food and water. Eventually, we
will die. The form we take during life on earth is our second existence. While
on earth, we need to develop our character of love. Therefore on earth, the
thing we need most is love. What is an orphan? Why do we call a child who
cannot receive love from a father or mother an orphan? It is because such a
child lacks the love by which he or she can connect eternally with spirit
world. When love is absent, we are lonely That is why we feel sorry for a
person who lives without a spouse.
Death
destroys our ability to breathe in the second stage, and connects us with the
nourishment of love. We eventually have no choice but to leave the physical
body behind. We cannot see love, but our internal structure develops centering
on the love of parents, of husband and wife, and of children. Just as there is
a normal development for a child in its mother's womb, there is a normal course
of development on earth. We follow it by living in accordance with the laws of
God. We cannot do it by living just any way we want.
Human Flight
If
we examine the world of nature, we see that insignificant insects, seeds of
trees and even baby birds can fly. Does it make sense that human beings, the
greatest of all creations, cannot fly? Look at the dandelion. It is made so
that its seeds will fly away when the wind blows. Birds fly, insects fly and
the seeds of plants fly Surely, human beings also must have been created with a
way to fly Someone might be tempted to complain, "God, why did you create
us without the ability to fly when everything else in creation can fly?"
God's reply probably would be, "Wait a few decades until you reach
completion and then I will let you fly"
So,
what should we be doing until then? We need to train ourselves to be able to
adapt to the spirit world. We need to train ourselves by loving our parents,
loving our spouse and loving our children. Then, when the time comes, we will
enter the eternal world and live in attendance to God. For that to take place,
we must put aside this physical body and die.
Look
at the life cycle of the cicada. Before a cicada can fly, it goes through a
larval stage. What would happen if the cicada said, "I want to go on
living as a larva. I don't want to shed my skin. I don't care about land and
air"? Even if it were resisting its transformation, once it shed its skin
it would fly away.
A
similar situation holds true with the dragonfly. First, it exists as a larva,
swimming around in water. Then it crawls on land for a time. After that, it
sheds its skin and flies away. It begins to eat insects that it never would
have thought of eating while it was living on land. As it flies around, the
entire world becomes its home. Many insects pass through three stages like
this. That is why insects have wings. They develop wings through their life in
the water, on land and finally in the air.
Human
beings are the highest beings in creation, but do we have wings? Does living
only on the earth satisfy us? Human beings have wings, but they are wings of a
higher order. You may say you don't want to put aside your physical body and
die. But once we die and leave our physical body behind, our spirit self passes
through the blessed gates of our second birth and whoosh, we fly away
Crossing the
Finish Line
As
I have already said, we cannot avoid death. We have to be prepared to suffer in
order to establish the good that is in us as our second self in the eternal
world. A fetus in its mother's womb must receive proper prenatal care if it is
to be born healthy and strong. In the same way, we need to prepare ourselves
properly while on earth. We need to grow by modeling ourselves on the image of
God, the heart of God and the divinity of God.
Once
we are grown, we need to invest our lives to pass over the line of life and
death. We must pass over even if we have to brave the fiercest storm. It is not
enough if we do well most of the way and then fall just short of the finish
line. What must we do when we find ourselves approaching life's finish line?
Even if we run with our mind focused totally on the goal, we can't be confident
we will make it all the way. If we wander aimlessly at the end, we will be
ruined. We win victory only as we dash across the finish line.
It
is an effort worth making for everyone born as a human being. No matter how
much opposition there may be from behind, no matter how much persecution comes
from the side, you just have to push forward one step at a time. There is no
time to get entangled with the opposition. You have to keep going as quickly as
you can, even one step at a time, in order to traverse your path of destiny to
its end and finally cross the finish line. We all must go this way.
The Value of
Righteousness
We
often say that a person's heart is upright. What does this mean? When a heart
is firmly vertical, we say it is upright. If a tree is lying on the ground, we
don't say it is upright. The same is true when we refer to a heart as upright.
The expression means that the heart is standing vertically That is why human
beings walk upright. An object must be vertical in order to be upright. We must
set our hearts in a completely vertical position. Then the body will be
horizontal in relation to this. When the vertical and horizontal are set within
us, the pulling power of the vertical and the pushing power of the horizontal
will be in balance. There will arise centripetal and centrifugal forces. Thus,
we need to find ourselves. When we assert ourselves, we should say that God and
True Parents are also this way. On this foundation, we can expand our sphere of
life through relatives, one clan and one nation.
Doctors
quarantine patients who have dangerous communicable diseases. For the same
reason, the time is not far off when we will send people who know the Will of
God but continue to sin despite this knowledge into isolation near the North
Pole or other arctic area. People thrown into such a place might not have a
place to sleep or food to eat. They may go through immense suffering until they
can genuinely repent.
There
is one thing that makes me sad. God gave me responsibility to accomplish His
will, so during my lifetime I need to accomplish His will to a level He finds
acceptable. Until I have done that, I cannot die. For that reason, when I am in
the valley of the shadow of death, God leads me out of danger. Whether I am
eating or fasting, whether I am asleep or awake, I am always praying for the
world and humankind. My suffering is not for the sake of a particular country
or people. My objective is the salvation of the world. I have worked to this
day and I am ready to die if necessary. I have sacrificed my life so that this
objective might be achieved. You, also, should live and die for the sake of the
world. If it is for the sake of world salvation, you must even be prepared to
die with your wife, your family, your clan and even your entire people.
Face to Face
with Death
Some
day in the future, you will die. When you stand face to face with death, you
will look back upon your life. You need to think what final words you will leave
behind at that moment. On the path of death, your friends will not be with you.
Your loving parents will not be there, nor will your loving brothers and
sisters. Your spouse and children whom you love so much will not be with you.
It is a path that you will take alone.
No
one can go down that path twice. Once you have gone, there is no coming back.
Once you take that path, you cannot return in all eternity The heart that you
have as you walk that path is important. When that moment arrives and you are face
to face with death, if you do not possess the hope that can transcend death,
that will be the end of you.
In
history there have been many people who upheld and established God's will. They
did not retreat when they faced death. Instead, they laughed in the face of
death and valiantly transcended death. We know well that these people paved our
way to Heaven. What kind of person is it who is joyful even when passing over
the hill of death, the moment that drives most of us into heartfelt sorrow?
This is the kind of person who has heartfelt hope and aspirations for Heaven.
For this reason, we must not reproach the world and lament when we face death.
Instead, we should feel joy as we stand before heaven with pride in the value
of our death.
What
happens to us when we die? Up to the moment we die, we belong to ourselves. But
as soon as we die, we belong to God. This is because we are born of a fallen
lineage. Until our death, we lack the ability to cut our ties with Satan. After
death, though, we establish ties with God. There is no resurrection without
death. It is impossible to enter into the next period without first passing
through the preceding one.
To
what kind of death does the Bible refer when it says that those who seek to die
will live and those who seek to live will die? (Luke 17:33, John 12:25) This
does not mean that we should lose the eternal life given us by Heaven. It means
that we should lose the life that is connected to the satanic world, inherited
through the fallen lineage. That is why those who seek to die for the sake of
God will live. This seems paradoxical. But from the perspective of the fall,
this is the only way restoration can come about. This is the standard for
discussing the possibility of restoration.
Wisdom and Foolishness
Success
or failure in life is not determined over a period of decades. Rather, it is
determined in an instant. If you look at the entire course of life, it does not
take very long for a baby to be born. Of course, there is a period leading up
to the birth, when the fetus is in the womb. Those ten months in the womb are a
time of preparation. The birth takes but an instant. The preparation may go
well for the entire ten months, but if something goes wrong at the decisive
moment of birth, the infant will meet a tragic end.
After
living out our life on earth, we come face to face with our moment of fate. We
will see our entire life flash before our eyes. The one who can say,
"There was truth in my life" and "I am leaving behind something
more valuable than my life," is a person who has spent his life in a
worthy manner. On the other hand, the person who starts to recall the past and
begins to shake his head over things he would rather not remember, is a tragic
person. For some people, the more they remember the greater the expression of
joy on their face. If all their problems can be buried in the ideal, death will
actually be a comfort. The moment of recalling the past will not be filled with
fear. If they are leaving something behind, then that past record will not die
and its reality will not die. Instead, these things will be made manifest. The
people whose past allows them to do this are without a doubt people whom the
nation can follow. They are the ones whom the people of the world can follow.
We
need to consider whether we can stand alone before God. Truth and goodness
begin with a particular individual but they do not end with that individual.
Once truth and goodness have begun in a particular person, they must bear fruit
in another person. Or, they can begin in another person and bear fruit in me.
If
a person spends her life giving to others, then she will have no fear on the
path of death. She has given everything and sacrificed herself for others. She
has led a life that is close to truth; she has shed tears for others and she
has invested her life for others. If a man's aspirations are for others, all
the life force coming from his pulse is focused and invested for the sake of
others. If this is the case, then this person's past is one of glory.
The
path taken by the wise is different from that taken by the foolish. A wise
person tries to live in partnership with history, in partnership with the
present world and in partnership with the future. A foolish person lives for
the self and tries to make the world exist for his or her own sake. There is a
global environment characteristic of the spirit world, and within it are
nations, clans, families and individuals. An individual cannot enter Heaven
without a self-motivating character by which he or she is absolutely
indispensable as an individual. The family or clan cannot enter Heaven unless
they can say that they possess a self-motivating character that makes them
indispensable on the family or clan level.
How to Go to
Heaven
Compared
with spirit world, Earth is but a speck of dust. The spirit world is an eternal
world, transcending time and space. If a spirit person commands, "The
person who lived in such and such an age with such and such a heart, please
come forward," then that person will appear in an instant. It is a world
in which feelings and intuition turn into reality. There are no factories there
to produce food. There are no automobile factories. There is nothing like that.
To
register yourself in spirit world, you need a certificate based upon your life
on earth. How are you going to obtain it? I'm talking about a certificate of
life that will let you say: "This is what I became. This is what I
did." You cannot just make your own certificate. First, Satan has to write
one for you. After you receive that certificate, you have to receive one from
Jesus. Finally, you have to receive a certificate from God. You will need these
three certificates.
When
you go to spirit world, you will find that it is made up of three very large
realms. Those who lived for others will go to the highest level. Those who
lived for themselves, however, will find themselves on the lowest level. They
will find that everyone is opposing them, whereas everyone will welcome those
who lived for others.
Once
you are in spirit world, your parents and spouse cannot help you. The people in
the highest levels are those who lived for the sake of others. In the uppermost
tiers are those who traveled throughout the world living for others with a
heart that expanded their love for their mother and family With a saintly
heart, they are always looking for ways to save the people of the world from
evil.
The
one who lives for himself goes to Hell, and the one who lives for others goes
to Heaven. People separate into these two worlds at death. Thus, we must live
for the sake of the whole, for the sake of the greater good. Live for the sake
of the world, for the sake of God and for the sake of human liberation. Someday
competitions will take place to see who can live for the sake of others to a
greater degree. In the heavenly world, the person who has lived for the sake of
others will go to the higher position. Thus, you can leap to a higher position
by living for the person who is higher than you are. Living for that person is
the same act as God bringing forth His own object through His creative act.
Thus, that person comes to stand as your object partner of love.
The Value of
Living for Others
In
the spirit world we live for others, centering on true love. If you encounter a
person who has dedicated 100 percent of his life for the sake of others, then
you have to say, "Please move past me, go ahead." It doesn't matter
how great the United States seems to be. A person who dedicates his life for
the people of America to a greater extent than your President does can move
past the President and be welcomed.
When
a person only cares about his own interests, he is everyone's enemy. It is the
same way in spirit world. When a person says he will live for something
greater, then he will naturally move past others. One who lives for the sake of
the world does not need to worry about living for America, because America is
included in the world. All countries are included in the world. The conclusion
can only be that true love, by which a person lives for the sake of others, is
the only content and direction that everyone can welcome.
When
you die, you must take with you three accomplishments. One, that you loved God.
Two, that you loved yourself and worked hard to establish your essential self.
And three, that you worked hard to expand the love you shared with your spouse
and your family to the entire world. This love for humanity and for God will
remain forever. It will define your right to ownership in the next world. When
you enter spirit world, the number of people you evangelized will determine
your right to ownership.
In
the spirit world, pride wells up over the extent to which you longed for people
with your life. You do not need anything else in the next world. The only thing
you need is the record that you loved God more than the world, more than your
country, more than your spouse and more than your children. If a wife wants her
husband to love her with godly love of a higher order, then she has to say,
"Please love God more than you love me, and then love me."
The Family and
Spirit World
I
often preach about the realm of the heart. The foundation for the realm of the
heart is the love of true parents, the love of true brothers and sisters and
the love of true children. The world of the heart is one in which we
universalize these types of love. In this original world, a person can live by
the standard of husband and wife love, but theirs must be a husband and wife
love that gives primacy to Heaven and earth and to the cosmos.
So,
where do we go in order to establish a foundation to qualify for that world? We
must lay this foundation in the physical world. We are not to spend our time
here for the sake of all those things valued by this world. We are here to
qualify ourselves for the next world.
That
is the basis for the principle that we live as families in the spirit world.
Why do we need to have children? The vertical love of God and the horizontal
love of parents bring descendants into this world. This is a vertical and
horizontal mixing of the blood of God and the parents. Thus, people who were
unable to have descendants on earth will not be able to harmonize Heaven and
earth in the spirit world. They will be unable to keep step with the rhythm of
north, south, east and west. A person who has no descendants will have no place
to rest or play in the next world.
Religions and
Nations in Spirit World
In
spirit world, there is no need for religion, much less for denominations. There
is no need for entities such as the Presbyterian Church or the Catholic Church.
People there are in the realm of life together with God. In that realm are
people who loved the world, patriots and loyal subjects, women of virtue, and
saints. As far as I am aware, however, there is as yet no one who lived his or
her life in the original love of God, centering on the tradition of the realm
of the heart.
Whenever
you begin a task, you should begin it centering on God. Whether you go to Hell,
the middle spirit world, Paradise or the Kingdom of Heaven, is determined by
the extent to which you harmonize with this principle. The most precious path
on earth is that which endures the greatest amount of suffering and sheds the
most tears for the sake of Heaven. That is the path that will bestow the
freedom to enter the next world.
In
the next world, people of different nationalities cannot live together, but
true followers of all religions can live together. The religious sphere is one
of longing for one world and believing in one God. Thus people of true piety
will be together. The uniqueness of people of faith is in their living their
entire life based upon the standard of the spirit world. Religion teaches us
how to relate with each other centering on the eternal world, the transcendent
world, the dwelling place of the Divine Being-whether we call Him God or by
some other name.
God's Call to
World Leaders
There
is a reason for my speaking to the participants in this gathering about the
value of life in relation to issues having to do with life and death. You
represent religions that are active throughout the world. I want to stress that
it is religious leaders' responsibility to teach about life and death
correctly.
Today,
the political leaders of the world are seeking to realize peace and prosperity
through the United Nations. In my judgement, however, the path to world peace
will be incomplete if we build it merely upon the political, economic and
military functions of the United Nations. Political, economic and military
powers can deal only with that which is external, physical and material. We can
reach the internal and spiritual aspects of life only through religious
teaching and through the unity and united actions of the world's religions.
I
would like to take this opportunity today to supplement the existing United
Nations with a structure in which the UN and leaders of the major world
religions can work together. I hope that the participants here today, and all
the nations of the world, will seriously consider this proposal to establish a
structure encompassing the world's religions and the United Nations.
My
dear Leaders and Distinguished Guests, I want to again express my appreciation
that you have taken time from your busy lives to attend this important meeting.
May God bless you and your families. Thank you.
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