Pyeong Hwa Gyeong (017) - The Background and Significance of the Founding of the Unification Church
5. What is different about the Unification Church?
At this point we need to come up with something new in order to realize peace and unity. Even in the world that is to come, the issue is ultimately each of us. We are the cause of the problems. Then, the question is, how can we plant within ourselves the base of an unwavering, self-confident heart by which we can overcome any obstacle coming from any circumstance, and resonate with the incoming tide of the new history? Also, how can we apply this understanding to our own life?
The problem we run into every day is the battle between our mind and body. This battle is not limited to ourselves; it also affects the family. If we look at our individual self, our mind and body are in conflict, and if we look at our family, our spouse is the same, so it is as though there are four people there, not two. If there are ten people, and all ten are mind-body conflicted, there are going to be divisions.
Only love can bring people together and bring the heavenly way and the human way together. I have been struggling for many years to practice this way of love, analyzing how it can be substantially learned by experience, with the Principle at the center.
In the future, what is the teaching that will remain in the world? Is it teaching that works for one’s particular society? No, it is not. The leaders of the Association of Religions in Korea have gathered together here today, but if each of you were to develop the association just for the sake of your own religion, the association will not succeed. Rather than honoring your own religion now, you need to pursue a greater love that is able to embrace many religions and is able to connect nations and unite the world.
If God exists, if He had the choice of saving either Korea or the world, which would He save first? Although He needs both Korea and the world, and although Korea does need to be saved, His Will would be to cast Korea aside and save the world. Taking this as our standard, the way of human beings who wish to follow the way of goodness or faith is the same. Do not approach things focused on your own self. You must give yourself up. In this way, when you live beyond the society, you become a loyal patriot. The person who is able to live beyond the nation, in their spiritual work and in daily life, both inside and outside, becomes a saint.
In this sense, as Korea seeks to be a new leader as we then approach the Pacific era, if it pursues policies only for the sake of Korea, it will not succeed. Korea has to pursue policies focused on the good of Asia. On the foundation of those policies, Korea has to pursue policies focused on the good of the world. Actually, the world only needs one nation, if that nation’s policies, religion and everything else were going forward in that spirit.
The reason the Unification Church has developed is because it understands that for the individual to be happy the world must first be happy, and that for the individual to be truly saved the world must first be saved. This is different from the established religions. If there is something to be learned from religious beliefs, it is that instead of making our perceptions conform to our own concepts, we ought to establish a relationship with the emotional side of the Will of God, focused on the world.
I know you have heard rumors about the Unification Church. However those rumors are not the problem. Today, if the thirty million people of Korea or its many religious groups could prosper by striking Reverend Moon of the Unification Church, then they ought to strike me. What I am hoping for is not the salvation of Korea; it is the salvation of the world. If God’s Will is to save the world, Korea must make itself able to save the world, and the Unification Church must make itself able to save Korea. Then the Unification Church and Korea will prosper. |