Pyeong Hwa Gyeong (061) - God’s Model for Absoluteness, Peace and the Ideal Is the Family and Global Kingdom Upholding Absolute Sexual Morality
4. The spirit world really exists
Ladies and gentlemen, each person has a mind and body, and a spirit self that is more elevated than the mind. God resides in the world in which we live with our physical bodies and also in the spirit world, where our spirits are destined to go. Therefore, we are complete only when we have become completely one with God in true love. Such a perfected person might be a relatively insignificant individual; however, as a representative of all of history and all potential future relationships, this person could be said to possess infinite value. Once we are aware of our cosmic value, we realize that we need to lead our lives in service to our minds for the sake of perfecting a standard of absolute sexual morality.
This is why your conscience knows and perceives every action you have performed, and also every thought you have entertained. Your conscience is aware of these things before your own teachers, parents or even God. Hence, if you were to live in absolute obedience to the commands of your conscience, which is your teacher for eternity, you would be absolutely guaranteed to have eternal life. Such is the way of God’s creation.
Consider the structure of a human being from a different perspective. We can recognize that God created us as beings with dual characteristics. He created our physical bodies as miniatures of the corporeal, physical world; likewise, He created our spiritual bodies as representatives of the incorporeal, spirit world. We are meant to take dominion of love over both worlds. Accordingly, God intended each person to live for a hundred years or so in the physical world and, once the physical body ceases to function, pass on naturally and automatically into the incorporeal, spirit world. In this way, the spirit world is the automatic and inevitable extension of our lives on earth, even though our physical eyes cannot perceive it. That world is humankind’s eternal, original homeland created by God.
The spirit world actually does exist. It is not a world that has been fantasized or imagined into existence. We do not have the right to choose; it is not a world we can go to if we please or refuse to go to if we would rather not. Just as God is eternal and unchanging, the spirit world He created is also eternal and unchanging. Just as we live in the physical world in our physical bodies and form all sorts of relationships with the things of this world, likewise in the spirit world we are destined to continue living in our spiritual bodies, forming and maintaining close relationships with all phenomena of the spirit world.
Although everyone has both a spirit and a body, the spirit is the more important of the two. The physical body lasts for about a hundred years before it ceases to function, yet the spirit lasts eternally, transcending time and space. Isn’t even a person who dresses and fares well in the physical world bound to die? Therefore, before you pass on to the next world, you have to achieve unity between your spirit and your physical body by living your earthly life in such a way that you meet the standards of both the physical and spirit worlds.
In other words, you have the responsibility to perfect your spirit within your physical body based on the finite life you live in the tangible, physical world. This does not mean, however, that your spirit self automatically grows to perfection. Your spirit self can mature fully only on the foundation of your having achieved complete unity between your mind and body during your earthly life, by expressing true love through action.
Ladies and gentlemen, in order for fruit to ripen and be put into storage in autumn, it must first pass through the growing process during spring and summer and be provided with the nutrients supplied by nature and the tender loving care of its owner. Fruit grown in an orchard by a lazy and ignorant owner will be afflicted with all kinds of diseases and be affected by foul weather. Eventually it will fall from the tree before it is ripe, or be classified as worm-infested. Though it will still be fruit, it will be different from other fruit because it will never be good enough to sell in the market.
Fruit that has fully matured on the tree will automatically go into the owner’s storehouse. Similarly, only when a person’s spirit has reached perfection during life in the physical world, which can be likened to the tree, will it automatically enter the incorporeal spirit world of the kingdom of heaven. In other words, a person will enter the kingdom of God in the spirit world automatically only after qualifying for and enjoying the kingdom of heaven on earth by living as a fully mature person while in his or her physical body.
During your life on earth, your every action and movement, without exception, is recorded on your spirit self, with the public laws of Heaven as the standard. Accordingly, you will enter the spirit world in the form of your spirit self, which has recorded your life on earth with 100 percent accuracy. Your spirit will show plainly whether you have led a ripe life of goodness, or a wormy, rotten life of sinfulness. What this means is that it is not God who will judge you; you will be your own judge. If you are aware of this astonishing rule from Heaven, will you spend the remaining days of your life on earth in selfishness and immorality, succumbing to all the temptations of Satan, in pursuit of only pleasure? No. Rather you will abstain from injuring and scarring your spirit bodies, even at the risk of your earthly life. Please bear this truth in mind: Whether you are bound for heaven or for hell is determined by your thoughts, speech and behavior in each moment.
Nevertheless, when you look into your lives, your outer self and inner self are undeniably in a relationship of ongoing conflict and struggle. How much longer will you allow this fighting to continue? Ten years? A hundred years? In contrast, there is undeniably a proper order for all forms of existence in the universe. This indicates that God did not create us in this state of conflict and disorder. You have to know that it is your duty and responsibility as a human being to dispel all temptations directed at your outer self, your physical body, to work to perfect absolute sexual morality, and to gain victory in life by following the way of your inner self, your conscience. Heavenly fortune will be with those who lead their lives in such a way. They will attain perfection of their spirit selves.
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