[526] Death is the inevitable conclusion of earthly life

[대태양/김현수]

Death is the inevitable conclusion of earthly life

There are many people who have lived to this day thinking that death is the end of life, saying, “If I live seventy or eighty years, I am content. And if I die, so be it.” During the course of history, there were people who thought deeply about how to live forever. They won­dered if there was any way to live beyond death. The more one clung to this ideal, the more one thought and asked, “What is the meaning of life? Why are we born and why do we walk our path like wan­derers?” People would say, “Life is a bit­ter ocean,” or “Life is fleeting like dew on the grass.” Yet, if they could live for­ever there would be no occasion for such worries to arise. (39-229, 1971.1.15)

Numerous sages, wise men, and founders of religions have paused on their path of life, interrupted their mind’s concerns and their heart’s inclinations and asked, “Where am I going?” They have struggled to solve this question. These people came forth to solve this question, but no one to this day could confidently make the claim: “My body, mind and heart, my life and ideals have hastened toward this ideal destination; hence, everyone and all beings existing in heaven and on earth should follow me towards this place.” (8-194, 1959.12.20)

Would you like to live here forever on earth, or would you rather live eternally in a place where you can be an embodi­ment of love without a physical body? When God wants to show you the infi­nite world of His creation, can you fol­low God with your body? You, therefore, need your spirit self. This is a fact, not a fantasy. If God were at the center of spir­ituality and if He needed a being with whom to relate, He would want to bring human beings with Him, show them and give to them His eternal ideal realm of creation in its entirety. (111-112, 1981.2.1)

Suppose you had only one piece of clothing to wear. If someone tried to take it from you by force, you would des­perately resist. Let’s say you had clothes for each of the four seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter. Suppose that it were springtime, and someone was wearing winter clothes. You could go and tell him, “These are winter clothes. Why don’t you take them off?” You would have to bring spring clothing. You would have to bring summer clothing to a person wearing spring clothing in summer, and tell him or her to change. That person may not have realized the need to change. The issue of dying is the same. People do not know that there is a future life. They do not know that there is something more valuable than this physical life. (200-91, 1990.2.24)

God has made infinite efforts to guide those who are living on earth with secular, humanistic hopes to live instead with a fresh hope that can overcome the valley of death in longing for the eter­nal world. Hence, those who lived a life of faith have taught that we should not live with hopes confined to this earth. Rather, we should embrace the hope that overcomes death and dream of a world of eternal hope. (6-44, 1959.3.22)

All of you will go to the spirit world at some time. Is it one realm or two? It is one world. Then, what will life in that world be like? Have you ever thought about that?

Fish cannot survive outside the world of water in which they live. Water is absolutely vital to their life. Fish liv­ing in a river should not live in the river waters alone. They should go back and forth to the sea as well. Why should they live that way? Some freshwater fish cannot procreate without tasting water that connects to sea water. You should be aware of this. Some sea fish have to come to the fresh water and taste it in order to reproduce. The two worlds must be experienced. Similarly, correspond­ing with the mind and body, you should experience both physical and spirit worlds. (210-128, 1990.12.17)

There are no friends on the path of death. It is a path that you take alone without your parents, without your beloved siblings, without your beloved spouse and beloved children. It is a path that you must take alone. This path can­not be revisited, nor can you return from it. Once you take this path you can never return. What kind of heart will you have when you go on this path? Unless you have hope that enables you to overcome death the moment you face it, it will be your end. (6-53, 1959.1.22)

If someone dies of old age, in Korean we say that person “went back.” When someone asks about our deceased grandparents we say, “They went back.” To where did they return? They returned to the spirit world. Since we originally come from the incorporeal God, the incorporeal world is our original home­land. From the incorporeal world we come to the corporeal world, prosper on this earth and then return to the incor­poreal world. We return to the spirit world in this way. We originate from the incorporeal Father, and we are then born through our natural father who lends his body, and we live in the physi­cal world. Later, we discard our physical body and return to the spirit world in our original form. (242-166, 1993.1.1)

Human beings, both men and women alike, have five sensory organs. Among the five sensory organs, four can be found in our head. Our eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and hands make up the five senso­ry organs. The most important ones can be found on our head. The four sensory organs on our head symbolize the spir­it world centered on God. It is a world separate from the body. The head can freely move about. The reason it moves about is to see, hear, smell, and speak in all four directions. Hence, what would happen if our head couldn’t move? The inconvenience would be great. (228-125, 1992.3.27)

The people on earth must return to the original world, a third stage, after their physical life. Thus, in order to become a person who can go and live in the world of love, we need to prepare ourselves with organs for breathing in that world of love. We go to that world when our physical body breaks down, just as a baby bursts the amniotic sac and destroys it in order to be born. That is why the mother feels labor pains. In the same way, death is like a second set of labor pains.

For what should we prepare dur­ing our life in this physical body? Dur­ing our time in the womb our lungs were made in preparation for breathing air. In the same way, during our physi­cal life we need to prepare ourselves to breathe with our love-breathing organ of the spirit world. So, after discarding your physical body you have to breathe with your love-breathing organ, over­come the limited environment of your past life and live as a person with unre­strained freedom. (274-104, 1995.10.29)

Human beings want to resemble God, and if they are His sons or daugh­ters, it is inevitable that God would have the idea of allowing them to resemble Him. I want to resemble God, and God wants to take me with Him. Therefore, God will seek the way to make this pos­sible. Therefore, we come to the conclu­sion that human beings must be born in a form through which they can resemble God. God waits for the day of that birth. Human beings wait for this day as well. Do we need a day when we are born with that body, or not? That day would be the day of our physical death.

Well then, should human beings wel­come death or not? When we are asked what the purpose of death is, we should say, “We die for the sake of God’s true love.” The reason we discard our phys­ical body is to actively participate in the work of God’s infinite love, and for the sake of God’s world of love. (116-172, 1982.1.1)

Death means to be born in God’s love. But in the human world, people make a fuss, saying, “Oh, I am dying!” Seeing this, would God laugh merrily or would He exclaim, “Oh, no!”? When God looks at people crying like this in the human world, does He feel sorrow or joy? Leaving the realm of limited love, we enter the joyful realm of infinite love. Isn’t death the moment to welcome this joyfulness? Isn’t this going through the path of death the moment of actually a second birth?

If this is the case, would God be joy­ful about the day your physical body is gone? Would He be joyful when some­one is born as a son or daughter who can act for the sake of love in the sec­ond, infinitely expanded world? Why do I talk about such things? You cannot establish a relationship with God with­out liberating yourself from the fear of death. I am speaking about this because you must understand this reality. (116-172, 1982.1.1)

On the day you are really born as God’s son…. Amongst the innumerable stars, do you think there is a realm of diamond stars or not? Think about it. You want to have diamonds, don’t you? You can’t say there isn’t a star made just of gold. It is possible. How rich God, our Father, is! Have you ever thought about that? We can travel this infinite uni­verse in a moment. Are you interested? Are you truly interested? If so, what we need to do is observe the normative laws in accordance with God’s commands: “Don’t do this!” or “Do that!” This is pos­sible only when you observe what God says to do or not to do. It is only logical that this becomes impossible if you live according to your selfish desires.

Can you abide by what God says to do or not to do? Since human beings have duality, they consist of mind and body. Since the mind is the subject part­ner, and the body the object partner, mind and body must be united. Is that right or wrong? (116-174, 1982.1.1)

What was God’s deep anguish? It originated in the fact that He could not educate His true sons and daughters to become people of perfected heart, that He could not educate them about the siblings’ heart, and the heart of a hus­band or wife. He could not educate them in the standard of heart that dic­tates what a couple should be like on earth. God could not educate them in how to become a couple and then how to be a parent. This education should have become the textbook for human life. Yet, humankind lost that textbook and came to lead a self-centered life. Therefore, when such a person goes to the spirit world, he goes to hell. Even when people go to hell they do not go to just one place. In hell, there are all sorts of groups wandering about. Adam and Eve were supposed to take charge of this education of heart, but because of their ignorance, they fell and could not per­fect themselves.

Consequently, the all-knowing God had to take responsibility for this. Who initiated the providence for salvation? God did. God initiated the providence for restoration and He also had to initi­ate the providence for re-creation. (228-268, 1992.7.5)