Pyeong Hwa Gyeong (066) - True Families : Gateway to Heaven - 5
3. The three stages of our lives
People go through the stages of formation, growth and completion during the course of their lives. We go through the realm of water in our mother’s womb, then the realm of the earthly world on planet Earth, and finally the aerial realm in heaven. In other words, people go through three periods: the period of water in the womb, the period of being born and living a hundred years on this earth, and then the period of flying in the aerial world.
People are born in the depths of water. The period in the womb is the period of existing in water. When the fetus is inside the mother’s womb, it is floating in fluid. It has to breathe in and exhale the fluid, and it lives by way of a hose connected to its mother’s womb. How is a fetus supplied with nutrients? It is supplied through the navel. The navel functions as its mouth. So we must not of be disdainful our navel. Pat your navel and say, “Belly button, thanks for your hard work a long time ago.” Pat your navel often; it will be good for your health. Do it as an exercise. If you exercise this way often, it will make you healthier. Even when you sleep in a cold room, if you cover your navel, you won’t get diarrhea.
In the womb, your navel is your mouth. At the time of birth, your breathing organ moves upward from the navel. What’s the next mouth? It is the mouth that you use for eating. It has moved upward. Eventually, what do we do with the umbilical cord attached to the navel? We cut it off. In a similar way, during our life on earth, the spirit is attached to the physical body, like the embryo in the womb, and feeds off the physical body. When the physical body grows old, the spirit discards the physical body and goes out on its own. In accordance with fundamental principles and laws, the spirit must be reborn as a person who can relate to the eternal God, its spiritual Parent.
After being born into the earthly world, a baby becomes friends with its father and mother. We are born into the earthly world, where we can share love with our fathers and mothers. In a similar way, we eventually must be born again into the spirit world, where we can share love with God, our Parent, who connects us to the world of spirit that has no bounds.
What do we need after coming out of the womb? It is not just air, food and water; it is love. We need to receive elements of love. We cannot be fed only food. If food is the only thing you take in, you will start to die. You need to prepare for the next stage of your life. So what do you need to fill yourself with during your life on earth? You must form a new character by filling yourself with love during this period.
What you need on earth is love. Why do you call a child who lives without the love of a father and mother an “orphan?” It is because the child does not receive the parental love during their lifetime that can connect him or her eternally to the spirit world. This is also the reason we feel pity for people who live alone without marrying.
After our physical death, which is the destruction of the body that has been breathing air on earth—the second kind of breathing—we begin breathing elements of love. Love is invisible. While we are on earth, our internal self, our spirit, grows through the love we receive from our parents and our spouse. That is why, just as an embryo develops in the womb in accordance with God’s law so that it grows to become a healthy baby, our spirit must develop within our physical body in this earthly world in accordance with the heavenly principle.
Dragonflies begin their lives by swimming in water during their larval stage, then come up to the earth and crawl about for a while. Finally they are able to fly around and prey on bugs they never would have imagined eating when they were crawling on the ground. They flutter about freely, thinking the whole universe is their stage.
There are many insects that go through these three stages of life. In general, insects have wings. They go through their lives living in the water, on land and in the air. Yet do human beings, who are called the lords of creation, have wings? We have a set of wings that are of a higher dimension. Death is the blessed gateway to our second birth. What is the meaning of death? Earthly life, the time of living in air, parallels the time of swimming in the womb. We are living in a wrapping cloth of air. Death is nothing special; it is only our rebirth into the third life. That moment of transition is what we call death. |