A frugal life
Is not happiness all about living and working for the sake of each other based on love? The wife lives for the sake of her husband, the children live for the sake of the parents, and the parents, grandparents, and grandchildren live for the sake of the family. When all members of a family strive to create something for the entire family rather than for their individual selves, when the grandfather, father, and mother and even the children are frugal in their personal spending in order to create something for the entire family, and when the entire family works hard to expand their common possessions, that household will prosper. For this reason, such a nest of love can expand from a place that refrains from spending money in order to save up and live for the whole. When these families spread out to society and the world, the ideal can be fulfilled. This does not happen centering on yourself or your own personal belongings. (167-214, 1987.7.19)
The rights of ownership must be returned to God. For this reason I do not have anything. Since I know this, I live a simple life. The age is gradually approaching in which the entire family can go anywhere with a single bag and live. There is some truth in the biblical passage, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (229-65, 1992.4.9)
How do you establish a firm economic foundation? You should first be frugal. That is why I tell you to be frugal. But no matter how much I emphasize this, it is still not being done. Even in an environment where we can freely give and receive material things, we may be chased out if we cannot fulfill our responsibility. In such a case the Unification Church will have to go through a second course of tribulation. (24-101, 1969.7.13)
Our missionaries are trained so that they have no need for the luxuries of Western societies. It is because we have a new culture called “the sleeping bag culture.” Wherever they go, our young people do not feel disoriented. You will discover that the homes of Unification Church missionaries are without any luxurious furnishings and possess only the simplest of household goods. (130-280, 1984.2.7)